


The Lonely Road

by RogueRevenant



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Comfort, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff and Smut, Friendship/Love, Hurt, Romance, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 09:32:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 34,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6233443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueRevenant/pseuds/RogueRevenant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of their adventures. Nate meets Piper, and quickly begins falling for her, just days after coming out of Vault 111 (sorry Nora!). Will he pursue her immediately, or will he take it slow?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story, so feel free to leave positive or negative feedback at your hearts content. If my dialogue seems crappy, please leave some feedback on it, and some tips for how to make it better. I will pump out a story every week or so, latest I will be is two weeks. Sorry if this is a bit short, I didn't want to merge the meeting between the two onto the same chapter as the interview. Enjoy.

Diamond City. I finally spotted the so-called ‘Great Green Jewel of The Commonwealth’ after getting my shit kicked in by multiple Super-Mutants, and meeting a group of disgruntled soldiers who called themselves “The Minutemen”. I don't know, they seemed okay, except for Marcy Long. One other lady, Mama Murphy told me to come here, and I will admit at first, I thought that she was just some crazy junkie. I ended up going anyways, because I needed any info I could get to find Shaun, and avenge Nora. I needed to find out where that prick that murdered her was, so splatter his blood all over the ground of which he stands on. He stole a part of my life that I would never, ever be able to get back, and for that, he was going to have to pay the price with his life. He deserves it anyways, I mean, he fucking shot her without any remorse whatsoever! He gave her one goddamn warning before he put a bullet in her chest.

Anyways, I took a look at Diamond City, and to be honest, the place looked like a dump from outside. I believe it was that old baseball stadium that Boston played for, Fenway Park. Back in my time, my family and I would go here every once in a while to watch the baseball games. Right now, it was a dark green color, the streets surrounding it were littered with trash and sentry turrets, and there were a bunch of shady looking guards around it. Shouldn't have listened to that crazy lady, I guess, she was a chem addict, after all.

Tracing the perimeter of the walls, I heard what sounded like a woman yelling faintly. I made my way closer to where the sound was coming from, and I spotted a young woman shouting at an intercom. She donned a tattered, red leather coat. On her head was one of those newsboy caps that the press wore, and under it, was long, dark brown, like Nora’s. She seemed really pissed, so I figured that it'd be best if I kept my ass out of her way.

“You open this gate now, Danny Sullivan! I live here, you can’t lock me out!” she snapped. I had planned on turning my ass away and going back to Sanctuary, but her eyes caught me, and she engaged me.

“You. You want into Diamond City, right?” she asked. I managed to make a small nod for yes, for she intimidated me a lot. She began speaking to that intercom again, making up a little tale that I was some merchant from Quincy. I didn't exactly agree to that part, because I didn't have any shit on me other than my Pip-Boy, the Vault 111 jumpsuit, a 10mm pistol with some bullets, and two wedding rings: mine and Nora’s, both of which I was not preparing to part with.   
“Better head in before Ole’ Danny catches the bluff,” she said to me, nudging me to move forward. 

Something about the contact really fucked with my mind for some reason, and I could only manage to utter a shy middle-schooler’s response.

“Um, uh y-yeah. I-uh…we should. Yeah,”

We strolled in, and were “greeted” by a large mustached man in a patchy suit, and by “greeted” I mean he just went off on the woman, calling her Piper, which I now can assume is her name. Something about her slandering him, and since he is the mayor he can rightfully exile her. 

“What about you, do you support the press?” Piper asked. “Because the mayor’s threatening to throw free speech in the dumpster.”

“What? Oh, uh yeah, I’ve always believed in freedom of the press,” I responded. Yet again, I managed to fuck up in the conversation, and make myself sound like the kid who hosts Diamond City Radio. 

The older man turned his attention to me, and he started spewing out a bunch of bullshit. I could tell from how quickly his demeanor changed when he began talking to me, that he was a real scumbag; dude was a total douche. I said this wasn’t exactly the friendliest welcome, and he asked me what exactly it was that I came for. I gave vague details, saying that I was looking for a missing person, because I didn’t trust him.

“Well, don’t bother going to Diamond City Security,” Piper said, redirecting her attention to me. She threw a glare at the Mayor, and she proceeded to verbally shit on them. She spoke of how they don't keep any records at all, how they put off all missing cases that come across them. 

The mayor butted in and pretty much said the same thing, but he was trying to defend them, saying that they try their hardest. Fucking worthless. The two began arguing again until the mayor turned around, grunting like a pig and strutting that rich, high and mighty, scumbag walk.

“Well, that’s Mayor McDonough for ya.” Piper said. “Well, I’ve gotta go get settled in. Hey, stop by my office later, I’ve got an idea for an article you’d be perfect for.”

I managed to let out a “sure” this time, and I did not end up fumbling over my words like a fool. I followed her in, and I got my first glimpse of the city. I guess it was a pretty good looking place, for one built in the aftermath of nuclear devastation. Couple of shops, a lot of people, and scrap metal houses. It kind of gave me hope to see that some people could make a settlement out of the crap that didn't get eviscerated.

When we made our way in, a younger girl ran up to Piper and assaulted her with a hug. I was a bit taken back. Is that Piper’s daughter? Is Piper married? But Piper is so young. My thoughts were negated when the girl called Piper “sis”. For some reason, I was relieved. Piper referred to the girl as Nat, and when they finished chatting, Piper went into a building under the name of “Publick Occurrences”. 

“Hey mister! Free paper to newcomers!” Nat exclaimed to me, as she tossed me one of the copies.

I caught the paper, and walked over to one of the benches and began to read it. Something about an organization called “The Institute,” those of whom would kidnap people. I kept reading and reading, but soon I was interrupted my drowsiness. The hours upon hours of sleep were finally catching up to me, and there was no chance that I could win this battle. I knew that I had to keep pressing and moving on to get clues on Shaun’s whereabouts, but I could barely even stay awake. My eyes closed, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep on the hard, rusty bench.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My sleep was interrupted abruptly by a person in a red coat. It was Piper. She had shaken me awake, and I almost had fallen off of the bench.

“What are you doing sleeping out here?” Piper questioned, unsuccessfully trying to hide a giggle. “It’s cold out, the bench is hard, and anyone here could pickpocket you if they wanted to, even the guards. Come on, you can sleep in my house for as long as you need.”

There was no argument on my part, and I lifted myself off of the bench, with the only strength I could manage to muster. I followed Piper into her house, and she guided to her couch. I awkwardly stood there, before she gestured me to lie down. I was about to fall asleep again when she came down the stairs, holding a thick blanket. She threw it over me, proceeding to adjust it so it clung to my body. Her hand ruffled up my hair playfully, and she kneeled beside the couch. 

Even through the heaviness of my eyelids, I got a good look at her face. And I mean good. Her cheekbones complimented her cheeks, which had faint little freckles dabbed throughout, trailing over the bridge of her nose. What captivated me the most about her, were her hazel eyes. In the light of the room, it was as if they were glowing. Around her smooth face, were her deep brown locks of hair.

I’d be lying if I said I didn't have a mini-crush on Piper right then. Yeah, my wife got shot dead right in front of me not even half a week ago, I knew that I should be mourning right then, and I knew that it was really scummy to get caught up in a crush so soon, but I couldn't help it. Not even a day since I met her, and I felt something for her. Maybe I was just getting delirious from the lack of sleep.

“There you go, Blue. Now you owe me that interview tomorrow, okay?” Piper said, in her soft voice. She went up to her room, and shortly after, I fell asleep.


	2. Truth Be Told

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate wakes up in Piper's house from the night before, and they get cracking with the interview, but some touchy subjects get brought up to the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this was a well written chapter, but I'm a novice at all of this writing stuff. Drop any positive feedback (or negative feedback if that's what you want) so that I can improve upon this story as I progress.

When I finally woke up, I felt rejuvenated. I forgot what it was like to get a good night’s sleep, because even before I had deprived myself of sleep, I was never truly asleep when I was frozen up in the vault. I can't really explain what it was like, all that I can really say is that it was nothing close to sleeping, and coming out of it was nothing but intense dizziness, nausea, and confusion. Even though had I fallen asleep on a rough couch, I somewhat felt better than I did coming out of that frozen coffin.

“Well, look who finally woke up. Seems like you had a good night, huh Blue?” Piper said as she was coming down the stairs.

“Why are you calling me Blue?” I asked. I vaguely remembered her calling me by that nickname last night, before I had dozed off. 

Piper gave me a looked that screamed “Is this guy serious?” I looked down at the tight outfit that I was wearing. Of course, the Vault 111 jumpsuit. How could I be that stupid? I stood out like a sore thumb in this suit. It was a radiant blue color, with a few yellow details on it. It was really damn tight, and I was still not used to the firmness of the suit in…some places. That, along with the fat Pip-Boy strapped to my left arm, was a dead giveaway that I was from a vault. It was no surprise that someone would eventually bring it up, and I felt really dumb for asking such a foolish question.

“Oh, yeah. This thing,” I said, clutching the suit. “I got this from the vault that I was in. Vault 111. I would've changed into something else, if I had the money to buy some clothes. My real name’s Nate, if you—”

“Money?” Piper’s face turned to one of confusion. “You mean like that worthless pre-war crap?” 

“Uh, no, I mean money, the currency. Like dollars, the stuff that you use to buy stuff with.”

“Well, I don't know if vaults still used that pre-war money, but up here, we use bottle caps to buy with,” she grinned.

It was at that moment that I felt like a huge ignoramus. Every time that I would kill a few raiders, I would go over and pick up any ammo that I could make use of. Each time that I did, I would find a pouch loaded with bottle caps. I figured that they were just a bunch of bottle cap enthusiasts, or something like that. Had I known earlier that caps were incredibly useful today, I would probably have enough to buy myself something more comfortable to wear, or at least something to eat. Somehow I managed to make myself look even more idiotic in front of her. 

“Well, now that you're here, Blue…” she put emphasis on the nickname as if she wanted to tease me. “You want to get going with that interview?” she asked me as she pulled out a notepad and a pen. “I mean since, you’re already here and…you kinda owe me one.”

“Uh…yeah, I guess,” I said, a little bit confused. What was it exactly that she wanted to know about me? I really had nothing to offer, I was just some random guy that came out of a vault. Surely there were other people out there who had much more interesting stories to tell.

“Ok, so here’s the gist of it. I want your life story in print. I think it’s time Diamond City had a little outside perspective on the Commonwealth,” she said. “You do that, and… l’ll tell you what. I’ll watch your back while you get used to life above ground. Seeing as how you just found that you need caps to buy stuff up here, I think that you'll need the extra eyes.”

“Alright, Piper. I’m in,” I said.

“Good, lets get down to business,” she started. “So, I know that you’re from a vault. How would you describe your time on the inside?”

I looked down, remembering the things that I could inside of the vault. Only vague points, but there was that one moment. The moment that I could remember vividly, but I wanted so badly to forget. All of the skeletons of the scientists, the vast loneliness that each chamber of the vault had, and…my family. Stripped away from me by force. I didn't want to bring that up right then. That was way too much information that would end up being seen by all the eyes of the residents of the city. I choked back as much pain as I could, when I broke my silence by saying:   
“We were all frozen up. Didn't get to spend much time in the actual vault.”

“Wait. They boxed you up in a fridge? The whole time? Are you saying that you were alive before the war?” she asked slowly, looking at me as if I were some alien species.

“The war? What war?” I asked, shifting up in my seat.

“The one that gave us this lovely landscape of demolished buildings and nuclear radiation every ten feet.” she explained. “You’re telling me you saw everything before it was blasted into pieces?”

“Yes, I’m over 200 years old,” I said, scoffing in disbelief at the fact that I was actually able to say something like that.

“Oh my god.” Piper chuckled. “The Man Out of Time. So, you've seen the Commonwealth, and Diamond City. How does it compare to your old life?”

“Well, looking around and seeing that people were able to rebuild like this…It gives me hope. I never really thought that after those nukes dropped, that civilization could, like, be reborn like this. It’s really nice.” I said.

“That’s surprisingly inspired, Blue. We’re definitely quoting that. Now, for the big question. You came all this way looking for someone. Who is it?”

I had to take another minute to think. I gave few details to the mayor earlier, but should I tell Piper. She seemed trustworthy, but I wasn't too comfortable with everyone knowing that my son was lost. Searching my feelings, I figured that I might as well tell her who was missing. Someone was bound to find out eventually. Anyways, I owed her a full interview, beginning to end, and perhaps she since she was going to come around with me after, maybe she could offer some help. Maybe the article could spread the story, or someone would know something about it.

I gritted my teeth. “My baby, Shaun. He was… he was stolen from me, and they… killed my wife. I had to watch it all.” I tried to keep my composure as best as I could, but my voice noticeably broke near the end of my sentence. The words that I spoke were cauterizing my throat. A tear slipped out of the corner of my eye, and I immediately wiped it away with the cuff of my suit. I didn't need Piper to see me like that, and I doubted she wanted to hear some sob story from a vault dweller. I had it easy compared to everyone above the surface.

Piper quietly gasped. “Oh, Blue I… I didn't mean to… I didn't know. I-I’m so sorry.”

All of a sudden, I was pulled into a warm hug. Piper clasped tightly onto me, and my face rested in her arm, my blushed face blending in with her coat. My mind quickly drew over to her fragrance. Who would've thought that, in world tainted with nothing but nuclear radiation and filth, there existed a person who actually smelt wonderful? She smelled like an odd mix between Nuka-Cola and pen ink, and I really liked it. I really didn’t want her to let go of me. 

She took a deep sigh, and tightened her hold around me. “Look, Blue. I don't want to have to publish this if you don’t want everyone to know about this. I’ll still come with you. I don't want—”

“N-no, no, it’s fine,” I broke in, sniffling and clearing my throat. “I can’t let you do that. These people need to see what things are like out there. They have to learn about what goes on outside of these walls. I read that article you just put out, and it was amazing. They need to see the truth, and not have to live under Mayor McDouchebag’s deceipt. I haven't even been here for more than a day, and I can tell that there’s something off about him. Diamond City deserves an honest reporter like you.”

Piper let go of me, to my dismay, and looked surprised. She stared at me, and her hazel eyes widened. Her freckled cheeks were soon flushed with the deepest shade of red imaginable. Her lower lip quiver lightly, and she bit down on it, looking down as if she wanted to hide herself. Even I was kind of shocked with myself. Not too long ago, I was jumping around with my words, spewing a bunch of unintelligible garbage out to her, but I managed to say all of that without a single stutter.

“Oh, w-wow, Blue. Th-thank you. I really…” she managed to utter. “I really needed to hear that. Are you…are you sure you don't mind if I put out this interview?”

“Go ahead. I want you to.”

She rubbed her eyes, and picked up her pen and note pad. “I have one side question for you…about your baby. Do you think that the Institute is in anyway involved with his kidnapping?”

“Institute?” I remembered reading a bit about it in her article before I passed out. “I’m sorry, I don't know much about them, other than the fact that they've been causing fear out there in the Commonwealth.”

“Well, I’m glad you haven't until now.” Piper shook her head sadly. “The Institute is the reason why I published that article that McDonough was so angry about yesterday. They're bad news, Blue. Nobody knows who they truly are, or where they are. Some people don't even think that they exist. The legend goes that they run around kidnapping people, and replacing them with synths.”

“Synths?”

“Synthetic people. There are two kinds you really gotta look out for. The first of which can be really easy to distinguish from other people. They look like some type of robo-skeleton thingy. They come in groups, murdering settlers left and right. They completely wiped out a settlement not too long ago, called University Point. The second type, you really gotta keep your eyes peeled for. They walk, talk, show emotion, and basically can do anything that you and I can do. You really can't tell them from a real human, which is what makes them even more dangerous.”

“Jesus. Are you playing around with me right now?” I asked.

“Nate, I really wish I was.” Drawing off of the fact that she didn't just refer to me as Blue just then, I could tell that she was dead serious. “So, do you think that they have something to do with your baby being taken?”

I really had to sit there and think for a moment. I mean, of all of the other explanations possible for his kidnapping, synthetic humans didn't really seem too plausible for the situation. It was all just so much to take in, but I had to take the chance to find Shaun. I wasn't going to leave any stone unturned, no matter what.

“Theres a chance they could’ve had some involvement.”

Piper said, “Not even a baby would be safe from them. And people wonder why I never just look the other way…” She scrawled some more down notes on the paper. “One last thing. I want you to leave Diamond City with a message. With all of the kidnappings and fear in the Commonwealth, what do you have to say to someone who could be going through the same thing as you as of now, but are too scared, too afraid to look for them?”

I said, “If you're feeling like you want to give up, don’t. Without hope, you've left that person for dead. They need you to not be afraid, and you need to keep on driving yourself. At least in the end you'll find out what happened to them.”

Piper finished jotting down her notes, and ran upstairs to her room. I heard some rustling while she was up there, and she came back down with a holstered 10mm pistol at her side. I remembered that she said that she would come with me at the beginning of the interview, but now I was having second thoughts. I mean, I liked her and I wanted her to come with me, but after hearing about what the synths were capable of, I didn't want her to be forced to come with me only because we had a deal.

But I really, really needed someone with to go with me. It was so fucking lonely out there.

“Piper, are you sure that you want to come with me?” I asked. “You don't have to if you don't want to. I understand, I know you have a job to do here in Diamond City, and your sister Nat’s gonna miss you.”

“Hey, you're not getting rid of me that easily.” She smirked playfully. “Besides, I can get some new article material while we’re out there. And Nat can take care of herself here. She’s old enough to know what to do on her own.”

On the outside, I held a stoic face as best as I could. On the inside, however, I was absolutely ecstatic. 

“Blue, I know someone who can help us find your baby. A synth detective by the name of Nick Valentine. We’re better off running to him for an investigation, rather than consulting the stooges that make up the Diamond City Security.” 

My eyes narrowed and my heart stopped. “Wait, did you just say ‘synth detective?’” 

“Don’t worry, he’s not like one of the synths I told you about. Not all of them are bad, actually.” she reassured me.

“Oh, okay. Let’s go.”

I walked over to the front door, opened it, and waited for her. She seemed a bit confused at my gesture, because she didn't immediately move. I guess chivalry wasn't one of the things that managed to survive after the bombs dropped.  


"You first,” I said. 

“Oh! Gee, uh…Thanks, Blue.” She blushed and hid a smile, as she walked out the door, and I followed her out.


	3. The Heart Wants...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I had a pretty vicious case of writer's block when I was writing this chapter. I had to scrap 3 or 4 other versions of it, before finally settling for this, and I'm fairy satisfied with how it came out. There's kinda of a big jump from one scene to another in this chapter, because I wanted to get a bit of the storyline out of the way, and not make it seem like Nate completely forgot about Shaun. Personally, I really didn't care about Shaun when playing Fallout, I just wanted to romance Piper and explore the Commonwealth with her. I'm kinda feeling like straying a bit away from the main storyline of the game to focus on this relationship, but drop a comment if you think I should stick to it, I'll try to make it work. By the next chapter, I'll probably dive into having Nate making advances on Piper, but it's probably gonna take more time because I wanna make it longer than any of my past chapters.
> 
> Enjoy.

I’ll be completely honest, Piper and I did not make any progress in our search for Shaun at all. We had to get Nick Valentine, the synth detective, out of trouble with some mobsters, but after that, we even do the interview right away. Nick told us he had to postpone the interview, because he had to get settled in and finish a few other missing person cases. Being with Piper took off the edge of worry that I felt for my son, and it gave us more time to grow closer, and to become more open with each other. 

“I told you Preston Garvey is a creep,” I joked as we crossed the rickety bridge that led away from Sanctuary. 

Piper giggled. “Aw, come on, he’s not that bad!”

“Yes, he most certainly is! Look, I know that the Minutemen are good guys and all, but Preston scares me. He’s always so serious, and he’s always talking about some settlement needing help. He has a much personality to him as a rock does!”   
Piper playfully punched me in the side, and threw her arm over my shoulders. The amount of body contact that we engaged in certainly increased over the past few days, but hey, I couldn't complain. I struggled not to get too excited, because Piper and I were still only friends. 

We made our way over to the Red Rocket Truck Stop, and we finally sat down and rested for once. Piper relaxed on a patchy couch in the garage, and I sat down on the dirty floor, right next to Dogmeat’s bed. She narrowed her eyes at me, and she took off her hat. 

“Blue, get over here.” Piper scooted over and gestured me to sit beside her. I went over and sat beside her. She once again wrapped her arm around me, and rested her head on my shoulder. She sighed, and I felt her warm breath make its way onto neck, making me shudder in light waves of ecstasy.

I didn’t want to blame her, but she obviously didn't see what she was doing to me. Piper was just so adorable, and I couldn't help but admit that I was starting to really to care about her. She mesmerized me in so many ways. What began as a simple crush my first day in Diamond City, was now quickly growing more and more intense as each moment with her went by. Was there even a point in trying to fight my feelings? Because how I felt about Piper was just getting stronger and stronger as time went by. It was eating me up inside. 

“Blue, are you okay? You're acting kinda weird.”

“What? Who, me?” I stuttered. “ H-how, how am I acting weird?”

She cocked her head to the side, and raised an eyebrow. “Are you nervous or something?”

“No…why would I be nervous?”

“You seem like something’s on your mind.”

Piper gazed deeply into my eyes, and I stared blankly back into hers. I looked down at her lightly chapped lips. I bit down on my lip, and tried my best to suppress any of my thoughts. They were tantalizing me. Maybe if I just…kissed them once, just maybe, it would dispel my torturous thoughts. But I didn't want to force it. For all I knew, she still thought of me as a friend, and rightly so, because she’s only known me for about a week. What would she think of a man, who very recently lost his wife, kissing her so suddenly? I was in agony, as my mind and my heart were at a constant war. It made me feel like a schizophrenic, because one half of me wanted Piper so much, and the other half was shaming me for leaving Nora’s memory behind so suddenly.

She cupped my cheek in her hand. “Blue, please. Tell me what’s going on right now. I know something’s bothering you. You can tell me anything that’s on your mind.”

Anything, huh? Can I tell you that I’m starting to get a massive crush on you?

“Well, I just wanted to say…thanks, you know? For coming with me, I-I really needed someone to come with me. I don’t think I would get far without someone by my side,” I said.

“Hey, don't mention it, Blue,” she said, pinching my cheek. “I should be thanking you. It sure does get lonely just sitting at a terminal all day long, thinking about what my next article is gonna be on. It feels nice to have a close friend around like you, Blue," Her compliment felt nice, but it still did not extinguish the feeling of intense longing. I really wanted to kiss her still. The distance between us was so little, and she was still caressing my cheek. My eyes darted back to her lips, and back to her eyes. I needed it…badly. 

Before I could do anything, Piper lifted herself up from the couch, and ran over to the windows. She lightly sighed as if she was just disappointed. Piper turned back, and jumped lightly when a loud crack of thunder sounded, and it began pouring rain outside.

“Blue, can we stay here for the day? I hate thunderstorms, and I don't want to get all wet.”

“Of course,” I said.  
_______________

By nightfall, we were trading stories about each other’s pasts to pass by the time, as the rain beat heavily on the roof of the building.

“Are you kidding me?!” I yelled. “You were poisoned?”

“Yeah, Blue. At the Dugout Inn, I went to go get a victory drink after my latest article got a caravan that was racking up food prices into some trouble. I should've seen it coming, because Vadim, the bartender, wasn't there. I took a swig of beer, and everything got all woozy shortly after. I had to chug moonshine to get it out of my system, which looking back at it now, I think was worse than succumbing to the poison.”

“Holy shit… why? Why would they try to kill you?” I asked.

“You make a lot of enemies being a reporter. Nobody wants to hang out with the reporter who’s always digging into other people’s business. This job is mainly the reason why I have, like, no friends in Diamond City, and why almost everyone despises me there.” She laughed lightly, as if she was trying to hold back pain.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think that you're a fun person to be around. Screw those people. They don't realize how important you really are.”

“W-wow, Blue.” Piper blushed and crossed her legs. “Gee, you really have a way with words, don't you?” 

Man, if I didn't want to kiss her before, I really wanted to kiss her right then. The way that she stuttered and got all flustered up after I complimented her made my heart melt. Each and every one of her mannerisms only made me want her more, in addition to how attractive she was. She had an athletic body, and whenever she maneuvered in her outfit, the tightness of the ripped leather would mold around her fantastic body. And the way that she chewed on the tip of her pencils whenever she would stop to write something in her notepad topped it all off. 

I felt like I was dealing out the ultimate betrayal to Nora. I loved her with all of my heart, but Piper was killing me. We were married for 5 years total, and I devoted myself to her for each and every one of the days that we had spent together. Now, after she was murdered, my heart managed to set it’s sights on a another woman, so quickly. Would she want me to move on? How much longer would I be able to suppress my feelings before they all spilled out in front of her? 

“So,” I said, trying to bring up a new conversation for me to bring my attention to. “Have you lived in Diamond City your whole life?”   Piper’s eyes trailed off for a second. “No, actually. Nat and I moved in when I was about nineteen years old. We lived in this small settlement for a while, just us and our dad…”

I listened attentively as she went on, telling stories about her father and the life that she lived before Diamond City. She lit up with a smile each time she talked about the things that she would do with him when he wasn't working for the local militia. 

“Then, one day… our dad turns up dead,” Piper said, her voice breaking. “His captain, an asshole named Mayburn, claims raiders must’ve got him on watch. But I didn't buy it. I started making inquiries around town. Turns out, the captain, he'd sold out. Thought he wasn't getting paid enough to babysit the town.” Piper clenched her teeth and balled up her fists. “He was going to leave the gates up and let a group of raiders sack the place, and take a cut of the profits. My dad found out and was gonna turn him in, but Mayburn got to him first. And I wasn't gonna let that bastard get away with murder. I tried to talk to the mayor, but he wouldn't listen to me. So I papered the entire town in posters, ‘Wanted for Gross Dereliction of Duty: Captain Mayburn.’ That finally got the mayor talking. Town threw Mayburn on his ass, and they were able to steer away a very surprised group of raiders.”

My own selfish feelings of longing were soon replaced with empathy for her. “Piper…I’m so sorry. But you managed to save all of those people, and you brought that piece of crap to justice. I’m sure your father would be proud of you for doing that.”

Piper smiled lightly, but I saw a tear slip out of the corner of her eye. She ran over to me and buried her face into my right shoulder, and her heart wrenching sobs were muffled into my blue vault suit. I held my right hand on the back of her head, and used my left hand to rub her back in a circle, and I softly reassured as best as I could. Me, I was never the best when it came to comforting. Comforting Nora back in the day was my worst fear, because I never knew the right things to say. But I knew how it felt to lose a loved one, and right now, I owed it to her for comforting me during her interview when I started crying. 

There were no more words for the rest of the night. We laid together on the couch in an emotional embrace, with me clinging to tightly her until she fell asleep in my arms. Her head rested on my chest, so I planted a soft kiss on her head, hoping that I wouldn't disturb her as she slept, also hoping that she wouldn't notice. My lips tingled with an intense sensation that felt like some kind of drug invading them. It wasn't the real kiss that I coveted so much earlier, and I still wanted the full experience, but it was enough to get me to go to sleep.  
________________

“Hey Blue. Wake up, buddy,” sang an angelic voice from beside me.

My eyes opened to see Piper kneeling down beside the couch from which we had crashed on the night before. She had a big smile on her face, and she tapped the tip of my nose with her index finger. I sheepishly smiled and I felt a warmth crawling up to my cheeks. 

“So, uh, I kinda just wanted to… y’know, I wanted to thank you…for last night. When you were holding me, and those things that you said last night. I never, ever had someone who was there for me when I was hurting like that. Usually, I’d be comforting Nat if something was ever bothering her. I would have to hide myself in my covers if I ever wanted to cry, so that she wouldn't have to see me like that. It wasn't easy having to always be strong for my little sis, always needing to act tough for her. But you…” She lowered her voice. “You were there for me. And you were the first person that I’ve talked to about my dad, other than Nat, and you actually listened, instead of ignoring me like everyone else in Diamond City. You’re… you're a real good friend, you know that?”

“You’re welcome, Pipes. I’m always here if you need to talk, and… I think you're a good friend, too,” I said. But my irrational heart was still itching for more than that. It wanted for us to be more than just friends. Then, there was my mind, who was trying to convince my heart with thousands of explanations of why we couldn't be together. It’s only been a week or two since we met, my wife died so recently, my son was missing, and I doubted that by now Piper reciprocated the feelings.

She smiled, stretched her arms, and let out a groan. “Blue, you wanna head over to Diamond City for Nick’s interview? He’s probably done with those old cases by now.”

“Yeah, let’s head out.” I was eager to go out and search for Shaun. Maybe things would go well for me in the Commonwealth after all.  
______________

“Piper, wait here. I don't want you to get hurt by Kellogg. I already lost my wife to him, I can’t lose you now. I have to finish this, and find Shaun,” I whispered to her.

“Blue, please be careful. Please. ” Piper’s eyes were filled with worry, and I gave her a quick reassuring hug, before I made my way to the prick who shot my wife in cold blood.

Kellogg stepped out of the shadows, hands in the air, with a smug grin on his face. It was him alright. The same face, with the grotesque burns and the long scar over his right eye, that I had seen in Vault 111. Around him, were 4 more synths, standing down at his command. He held his hands up in the air, a mock surrender, treating the situation as it were a game.

“Well, if it isn't my good old pal, the frozen TV dinner,” He chuckled, and spit on the ground in front of me. “Didn’t think you had the brains, or the guts, to track me down.”   

I gripped my combat knife tightly in my hand. “You. You mercenary piece of shit. Where the fuck is my son?”

“What, I don't even get a ‘hi’? Figures, I didn't exactly get one from your wife either, before…well, you know what.” 

I  felt a heat rush through my entire body. Emotions that I had felt when I was in the vault began to return.I cocked my head back, and with the force of a running brahmin, I drilled my head into his skull. He flung back onto the ground like a rag-doll.

“Ooh, touched a nerve there, now did I?” he taunted, as he smeared fresh blood from a new gash on his lower lip. More blood cascaded down from his right nostril.

“What the fuck have you done to my baby? WHERE IS SHAUN?!” I barked.

He glared at me, flashing a smirk. “Funny. You're still stuck in the past, are you?” He rose up from the ground, spitting blood. “Well, let me tell you something, friendo. You've missed out on a hell of a lot more time than you think.”  “What? What the fuck are talking about?”

“I’ll put it like this: you've missed out on a ton of your son’s life. Heh, I figured you woulda thought that you only missed like 10 minutes. But oh boy, you got another thing coming.”

I bit my lip, hard enough that I could taste blood. “I’m only going ask you one more time, you mercenary motherfucker. Where... Is... My... Son?”

“But…” he began. “There’s one more thing to it. You see, I kinda don't have your son anymore. But you know who does?” he drummed his fingers in the air to imitate a drum roll. “The Institute.”   


My heart dropped. I didn't want to believe it. No, it couldn't be true; that was impossible. But after everything I’ve been told about the Institute from Piper, and Nick Valentine, it didn't matter if I wanted to believe it or not. This was the reality that we lived in.

“Wow. You really thought that you were gonna get him back that easily? I almost feel bad for you.”

I couldn't take it anymore. Kellogg was chuckling to himself in front of me, having a grand old time. I lunged at him with my impotent rage taking control of me, and I plunged the blade into his upper torso, piercing his cold heart before he could even react. Like a madman, I repeatedly impaled him, and as I did so, blood sprayed all over me, as I turned to a murderous machine, my hand wouldn't stop thrusting even after he finally stopped struggling. Instinctively, I then used his .44 pistol, the very pistol that ended my former lover’s life, to put his Institute synths out of commission. 

The stench of death reigned the room when I was finished. The rage, the pure hatred that I felt soon abandoned me, and it was replaced by a sense of emptiness. I went there for nothing, even killing Kellogg didn't satisfy me. My son was still gone, and to make matters inconceivably worse, the fucking Institute had him. When Piper first asked me if I thought that the Institute had him, I’d told her yes. I didn't think much of them, I’d thought that they were just some small urban legend, but now, there was no doubting their existence. Nobody in the whole Commonwealth knew who they were, where they were, and what happens to the people who get kidnapped by them. Now I saw the truth, and the last man that even knew remotely anything about them, laid dead in front of me. The odds were constantly being stacked against me; my whole life was becoming a cliché. 

“Blue? Oh my god, Blue! Are you alright?!” Piper rushed over to me, and grabbed me by the sides of my face. She used her scarf to wipe the blood, sweat, tears, and dirt that masked my face. “God, look at all of this blood! Is this yours? Blue?” Her attention drew over to the mess that I made while she was in the other room.

I didn't respond.

“Blue? You in there?” she asked me, shaking me gently.

I murmured, “He’s gone, Piper. The Institute’s got him now.”

“Oh, Blue. I know, I heard it all. I listened in from the room is was hiding in,” she said. “Everything’s gonna be okay, Nate, I swear.”   


"How?” I questioned her. “How is anything gonna be okay now? The Institute has him! The fucking Institute! It’s over! I was stupid to think getting Shaun back would be so easy…”

“Blue, don't say that, there still a chan—”

“There isn't a chance! God knows what happens to those people after they get kidnapped!” I yelled. 

“Nate, just listen..”

“It’s over! For all I know, he’s probably dead!”

Piper struck me hard, across the face, surprising me. “Don’t you dare say anything like that! Do you not remember what you told me during your interview? The thing about not giving up? ”   


I rubbed my stinging cheek from her slap. “That’s different, that was before I found out that the Institute—”  “No! Look, nobody knows who the Institute is, or where they are, but we’ll find a way to get to them! I’m not gonna give up on you, and you're not gonna give up on your son! I won’t let you!”

“Piper… I’m not giving up. What I’m doing is being realistic. How the hell are we gonna track the Institute down when we don't even know a sliver of information about them?” I said, defeated. “Kellogg must’ve known something, but look at him now.”

“We’ll find a way. I promise you, we’ll get him back.” Piper rested her forehead against mine. It was nice to have someone in the Commonwealth to actually care about me. In the little time since I had been freed from Vault 101, I’ve made very few close friends other than Piper. I didn't think that I could feel after Nora, to be able to want someone other than my wife. I thought that I would lose all of my feelings of affection, that seeing her die would void my heart from ever wanting someone else’s love ever again. But I was wrong. I couldn't deny it anymore, Piper Wright had stolen my heart from the minute I saw her, and she wasn't going to give it back.

But did she feel the same way? For all she knew, I could still be reeling over my loss. In addition to that, she would think that I’m just some unfaithful jerk if I could forget like that so easily. And let’s face it, I’d be too broken for her. With everything I had seen, all of the insecurities in my mind, I was pretty much damaged goods. My problems matter so little in comparison to everyone out in the world now, and here I am bitching about every little thing, while other have to tough it all out. Had she ever had the chance to come into my mind, and see all of this, she’d get sick of me. Hell, even I was starting to get sick of my whining.

But that didn't change the fact that I had fallen hard for Piper. I couldn't deny it. It needed to wait though, it was way too quick to even try to make an advance on her. In time, maybe she would feel the same way, and maybe it would be morally right. But now wasn't the best time to admit how I felt. 

She slid my arm around her shoulders, delivering my weary body a bit of solace. “Come on, Blue. Everything’s gonna be okay, the Institute won’t hurt Shaun. I’ll kill them all before that happens.”


	4. Seeing Through

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally, I feel like my last chapter was a bit of a lackluster to this whole series. I don't know, it might just be me. However, I think that this chapter is kind of decent, but still not as long as I wished it could've been. Also, I feel like I'm doing kind of a crappy job at portraying Piper in this story, and I feel like this Nate is too generic. Once again, leave any comments on anything that I can improve, and give some feedback on my portrayal of the characters. 
> 
> P.S. I have another, smaller Piper/M!SS project that I'm working on, just a short little story that I'm trying to make to enhance my writing skills, since I'm a novice at all of this.

“Same shit, different day,” I mumbled to myself as I threw my body onto the filthy bed at the Dugout Inn, after another day of getting zero leads on the Institute. It was getting late out, and Piper headed back to her house so she could get some sleep, and I opted to get a place at the Dugout, because I didn't want to disturb her with the night terrors I’ve been having for the past month. Each night as we slept in our separate sleeping bags, I would drift off and sleep like a baby, until Piper would frantically shake me awake, telling me that I was screaming and thrashing around in my sleep. It reminded me of when Nora would have to do the same thing to me, after I got home from the war, and I was having night terrors.

I punched myself in the leg. Ever since killing Kellogg, I’ve been trying my absolute hardest to push Nora away from my memory. Multiple times, I would find myself comparing and contrasting her and Piper, and I knew that was disrespectful to both of them. Don't get me wrong, every single day since I’ve met Piper, I always thought about what my life would be like if we were together. I just didn't want to treat her as if she was just only a rebound for me, someone who I could just use to get me back into the game. No, Piper was much more special than that. But lately, I’ve been working on safely controlling my feelings for her so I wouldn't ruin the friendship that we had. I also didn't want completely forget Nora, and make it seem like I didn't love her. I did in fact love her, but there was no use in crying myself to sleep over her every night. I needed to move on from her.

I rummaged through my backpack, searching for my old belongings that I picked up from our hidden safe in Sanctuary. There was Shaun’s golden bracelet, his dirty little blue blanket, a plastic baggie with Nora’s wedding ring, a holotape she left me, and an old photograph. Our family photo that we took, not even a week before everything changed. It’s funny, if I looked at this picture right after I got out of Vault 111, there’s no doubt that I would've started blubbering like a child. But now… I couldn't feel anything. There’s no use in feeling sorry anymore. Shaun needed me, and sorrow was only going to be another obstacle.

Carefully placing the photo back where it belonged, I took one more look at the sentimental items before zipping up the bag and tossing it to the side. Silence plagued my lonely room, and I cursed myself for my constant nightmares. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have to miss a minute of being in Piper’s sweet presence. I insisted to come to the Dugout, but she pled with me to come to her house, despite my annoying sleeping issues. Now that I was alone, I wouldn't be able to sleep at all. The rest of my night would be spent staring at the cracks that marked the walls of my room.

Hours went by, the absolute slowest night of my life, and I jolted up when I heard a knock on my door. My legs carried me at full speed, hoping it was the woman who I had now grown to love, before I yanked open the door.

“Hey, Blue.” It was Piper. “I, uh, I know its pretty early right now, you can come over my house now. I guess, if you want, you don't have to—”

“Yes!” I said, a little too excitedly. “Uh, I mean, yes.”

She tucked a tuft of her hair behind her ear. “Great, let’s go.”

When we got to her house, Nat was still sleeping, so we decided upon going up to her roof so that we could talk. The sun was just beginning to peak above the east wall of Diamond City, and there was a gentle breeze sweeping through, cold enough that Piper began shivering a bit. I removed my new heavy, deep brown trench coat, and I wrapped her in it, sitting beside her, upon her roof. Even if it was just a little cold out, I didn't want Piper to have suffer from it.

Her eyes twinkled from the rising sunlight. “Thanks, Blue.”

“No problem.”

“So, Blue…” she began. “How you hanging in? Any more nightmares?”   


I chuckled lightly. “Actually, I didn't sleep at all last night. Zero. Zilch.”

“What? Nothing at all? Were you scared?”

“No, no, that’s not it. I just didn't go to sleep, I couldn’t.”   


She stared at me, worriedly. “Why? Is everything okay?” She reached out, placing a hand above mine, numbing all sensation that was present.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” I slurred. “It’s nothing in particular. Just couldn't sleep.” I had to lie. To act like the distance between us wasn’t the thing bothering me.

Piper scooted herself closer to me, leaning her body onto my side. My shoulder was met with the comfort of her head, and the warmth of our convergence shielded me from the brisk air. I closed my eyes, and savored the moment for as long as I could.

“Blue, let’s just stay here for the day, okay? There’s no way you're gonna be sharp enough to handle yourself out there, given your lack of sleep. It’s too early, anyways.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I really didn't want to argue with her, due to the fact that I didn't want to worry her about my safety, and also because I was just too damn tired of going out to find nothing for the past month. I really wanted to just find Shaun and get this goose chase over with already.

For about an hour, we sat together on the roof, sharing small talk and just enjoying each others company, until Nat came up and questioned what exactly we were doing so close to one another, causing Piper to leap from my shoulder. She seemed to be flustered, even embarrassed trying to explain to her little sister that we were just hanging out. It made me laugh on the inside how cute Piper was, trying to explain herself.

Piper turned her attention back to me. “Blue, I gotta go down to Takahashi’s to get Nat and I something to eat. You want anything?”

“Oh, it’s fine, you don't need to go down, I can go get it all for you,” I offered.

“But Blu—”

“Too late,” I said, as I leapt from the roof of Publick Occurences. Not such a smart idea though, for I twisted my ankle on my landing and hit the dirt like a Bloatfly. I dusted myself off, and ran over to the robot, Takahashi, purchasing a few noodle cups from him, only saying “yes” and “thanks” because those were the only words he actually understood. In mere seconds, I raced back to Publick Occurrences, and nimbly scaffolded the side of the home to meet Piper back on the roof. 

When I made it back to Piper’s roof, I handed her the food, and as I did so, I noticed a large gash on the side of my wrist. Blood seeped from the wound, leaving a red trail down the side of my forearm. To no avail, I wiped the cut on the side of my white t-shirt, but that only left a large stain on the shirt. I winced lightly at the sharp pain that came with the contact.

“Shit, Blue. That looks bad, you want me to wrap it up?” Piper asked with a hint of worry in her tone.

I sucked the blood from the cut, in another measly attempt to clean it. “Nah, it’ll heal on it’s own. Beside, that’s a waste of medical supplies that we’re gonna need, if one of us get’s hurt out there.”

“You mean if YOU get hurt out there?” she teased me playfully. Since we met, I’d made a small reputation for myself in getting into some pretty nasty situations. Usually, they would consist of my throwing myself into a hail of raider gunfire to make sure Piper was okay. “And don't be silly, let me fix that up.” She rushed inside to drop off her food, and came back with a roll of bandages. She carefully snaked around my wrist with the rough wrapping, until my whole wrist was locked from the tightness of the wrap. “Better?” she asked.

“Yeah, a little. But maybe if you kissed it, it would be one-hundred percent better.” I winked.

Piper awkwardly laughed off my childish, but also sincere request. Before she could turn herself around, I pulled her into a tight hug. It was impulsive, completely out of nowhere, but it felt right. I felt a need to show my affection towards her, since she had always been so lonely.

“Wow, Blue. I had no idea you were so…” she trailed off, giggling into my chest. 

“I’m so what?”

Her fit of laughter didn't cease, as she continued to muffle her spasms within my embrace. “N-nothing, nevermind.” She locked her arms around my abdomen, returning the hug.

“Piper, do you wanna go out tonight? Like, for a drink or something like that?” I asked, secretly praying that her answer would be “yes”. Today would be our only free day, since tomorrow we’d probably need to go out looking for Shaun again.

“I will, but on one condition…” she said.

“What is it?”

She tilted her head back, to look me in the eyes. “You’re sleeping at my place for the night.”

Without thinking, I immediately said, “Okay, deal.”  
_______________

I’ll admit, I was getting kind of nervous for my night out with Piper. For about one hour, I stood in front of a cracked, dirty mirror, constantly checking to see if anything was off. Everything needed to be perfect, even though this really wasn't a “date” we were going on, it was just a platonic, friends only, drink at the Dugout Inn. Anyways, it couldn't be a date in the first place, the venue was just a simple little bar, that basically counted as my house as well. If I was going to take Piper on a real date, then I was going to make sure that it was the most romantic of them all. Sure, things weren't exactly the way they used to be, all of the fancy little restaurants and such were eradicated by the bombs. But still, nothing would stop me from making sure that Piper would have the most wonderful night of her life. 

“Blue, are you done admiring yourself in the mirror yet?” Piper put a hand on my shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”

I followed her out, and it almost felt as if I was dreaming again. Not one of my usual nightmares, consisting of me being all alone, lost in a void of darkness. This on the contrary, a most pleasant dream, even though it wasn't really a dream. I looked up into the night sky, and hundreds of stars littered the horizon. Constellations shone in the deep-blue night sky. The moon was dead-center in the sky, no shadows or darkness shrouding it whatsoever. Like Piper, the night was beautiful.

We stepped into the bar, and made out way over to the counter. Vadim, the friendly bartender, was overjoyed to see that I was finally in his bar to buy a drink for once. I, trying to boost my machismo in front of Piper, ordered a big shot of Bobrov’s Best Moonshine. Piper, on the other hand, ordered just a small glass of regular beer.

“You sure you can handle that stuff?” Piper asked me, a bit skeptical. “I’m pretty sure that’s the stuff I tried to wash the poison out with. And to this day, I’d still rather go at it with the poison.” 

“Piper, darling, I can handle just about anything thrown at me. Watch this,” I said, as I swigged the whole shot glass abruptly. 

Within a split second, my taste buds and esophagus were violently assaulted with the most wretched, foul taste ever. It was the strongest alcohol I had ever come across in my life, hell, I don't even think it was even alcohol. I began coughing violently, spilling the beverage all over the counter, and it felt like my breathing was being restricted by the most noxious gas imaginable.

Vadim burst out laughing from afar. “Ha! It is too strong for you, my friend. Maybe next time we start with wine, eh?”

Piper patted me on the back while I tried to clear the toxic from my system. “Now, what was that about you being able to handle anything thrown at you?” 

After I was able to regain my composure, Piper and I were surprised when an old pal came up to us.

“I couldn't help but notice your little coughing fit from afar, my friend.” Nick Valentine reached out and hand, and I shook it, feeling the cold, rough “skin” that he was made of. “How’ve you two been? I haven't seen you since you came back from the interview.”   


"Hey, Nick,” Piper and I said in unison. 

“Anything on the Institute lately?” He asked, pulling out a cigarette, and lighting it up.

I shook my head. “No, not at all. We've been looking for so long, and we've barely scratched the surface of this whole fiasco. I’m starting to get a little worried about Shaun.”

Nick took a puff from the cigarette. “Well, if this is any consolation to you, I think I’ve made a major break in the case today.”

“What? You have? What is it?”

“Well,” he began, adjusting his fedora. “I took a trip back to Fort Hagen, the place where you tracked down Kellogg, and did a little investigating of my own, seeing if I could catch something you guys missed. Took a little look at ole’ Kellogg’s remains, and found this sucker right here,” he said, holding up what looked like a little microphone.  
  

"What the hell is that?” I asked, a little agitated.

“This right here, is a synth component. Something you'd see if you were to take a crack into my head, and look at what’s inside. I think if we take this component to an old friend of mine, at the Memory Den in Goodneighbor, I think we might just break the ice on this whole Institute mystery.”

“Ugh,” Piper groaned. “Goodneighbor? You're telling me that we have to go there to uncover the Commonwealth’s biggest secret?”

“What’s the Memory Den?” I interjected.

“The Memory Den, to shorten things up, is basically a place where you can dig into old memories in the mind. If we use this synth component there, with the aid of my good friend Doctor Amari, we could dig into Kellogg’s memories by tomorrow, and we’ll get to the bottom of why he took your boy to the Institute.”

I jumped from my seat. “Are you serious? Really?”   
“Yes, I am.” He said, flashing a genuine smile.

“Piper, do you know what this means?!” I locked my arms around her, ever so tightly, and spun her around in a hug. In addition to that, I planted a long, sloppy kiss on her cheek, causing her to tense up in my arms. “We’re gonna find Shaun!”

“Y-yeah, Blue…” she said, adjusting her hat over her eyes, and straightening her hair.

“Alright, seeing from that cute little display of affection right there, I can assume you'd want to take Piper with you on your way to Goodneighbor. I’ll meet you at the Memory Den when you get there.” Nick walked out of the bar, after flicking his cigarette into a nearby trashcan with ease. Goddamn, he was one slick synth. 

Piper and I eventually finished up our night at the bar, but it really consisted of me spending the rest of the time rambling on about my son. I couldn't help it, today was the best day ever, from spending the day with Piper, to just being given the best news in a long time, I was so excited for what the future had in store. Then, I was about to split off into my room at the inn, until I was stopped by Piper, who grabbed me by the lapels of my jacket.

“Blue, you remember the deal we made earlier today? You're sleeping at my place tonight, no arguments.”   


"Piper, I don’t wanna bug you, just in case I have another nightmare. Really, it’s fine, okay?”

She tugged on my arm, like a stubborn child with their parent. “No, it’s not fine. You are not sleeping alone, period. If you don't sleep at my house, I’ll sleep on the floor of your room. You're not gonna go through one of those awful dreams by yourself.”   


"Alright, but don't get mad at me if I start screaming bloody murder in the dead of night, that’s gonna be on you.”

Piper guided me through the dark trail, until we made it to her house. Originally, I was about to put myself on the couch to sleep once again, but Piper spun me around, leading me upstairs to her room.

“Okay, Blue. You're gonna take my bed for the night, and I’ll take a sleeping bag on the floor.”   


"Uh-uh,” I asserted. “This is your house, all of this is yours, you take the bed. I don't mind sleeping on the floor.”

“Yes, you are sleeping on the bed, and don't argue with me.”

“Piper, you don't always have to be this nice to me. Just take the bed, you have yourself to take care of too, you know.”

She seemed a bit hurt, and I immediately regretted what I said. “Blue, yes I do have to be nice to you all of the time, because I really care about you. I’m getting sick of seeing you beat yourself down all of the time like this, you're not a superhuman. Do you know how many times you've thrown yourself into danger? Am I the only one who’s been keeping count of the times you’ve almost died since we met? What’s it gonna take for you to start treating yourself properly?”

Once again, I figured that there was no reason in protesting against Piper. “Fine, but how about this? I take half of the bed, you take the other half. That sound any good?”

“What?” she asked, voice cracking just a bit. “You mean like… in the same bed? Together?”

“Yep. And that’s the only way you're gonna get me to sleep in the bed tonight, alright?” I said, expecting her to give me a stutter-y response.

“Deal,” she said, shoving me onto the bed. I pushed myself over to the side of the bed that touched the wall, so that she could get as much space as she wanted. Piper pulled a thick blanket over us, and I was forced to move closer so that we could get an even amount of the blanket. In between us, there was a mild gap that separated our bodies from making any contact with each other. I would've done anything to just cuddle with Piper, and share the warmth of our bodies with each other once again.

“C-cold night, huh Blue?” Piper breathed, through her chattering teeth.

“Jesus, I haven’t been this cold since those eggheads at Vault-Tec turned me into an ice cube.” I hollowly laughed at my own edgy little joke, seeing the mist of my breath escape my mouth. “So… what were you saying earlier? About really caring about me?”

“Oh, that?” She laughed nervously. “I was just saying, y’know, that I really care about you. I thought about you a lot last night, when you slept alone.”

I raised my eyebrow, trying to get more out of her. “Oh, so you were thinking about me last night, huh?”

“Well, yeah I was but…” She seemed to catch onto what I was insinuating. “Oh, but not like that. N-not in the way that you’re thinking right now, not at all. I mean, uh, it’s not that I don't think you're like, handsome or something like that, you are, but… I wasn't doing what you're thinking I was doing, nope. Not one bit.”

“Oh, so you think I’m handsome now, do ya?”

“Well, y-yeah, of course. I mean, you're certainly easy on the eyes, but I’m just saying that I was not doing anything gross like that, with you in my mind. God, did it just get hot in here?”

“Nope,” I said. “So were you thinking about me all night?”

‘Blue, I-I, you… I wasn’t… Can we just go to sleep, please?”

“But—”

“Goodnight, Blue.” Piper rolled over onto her side, facing her back to me. But I needed to know if she felt the same way about me, as I did about her. That way, I would know my place, and not make her uncomfortable if I made any advances on her. Yeah, we were pretty close by now, and we have had a few close moments together, but don't all best friends get a little close every now and then. I was just shitty with body language and that type of crap, it took me almost a year to notice that Nora had feelings for me, and about another to notice that she wanted to have a kid. Maybe if I wasn't such an idiot, then I’d be able to tell if Piper wanted to be more than just friends, or if she just saw me as family. I regretted pushing her too much, and making her feel embarrassed.

A few hours from now we would be off on our way to meet Nick at the Memory Den, where there could be a chance for me to apologize to Piper for being too pushy. 


	5. A Night At The Rexford

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things get pretty intense in this chapter. If you don't like sexual content/anything of that nature, I'd suggest you'd skip out on this one. For those who will read, I put in a lot of effort to try to make the scene at the end meaningful, so I'd appreciate if you give some feedback on it.
> 
> BTW, I might take two weeks between chapters from here on out, to try to ensure that each one is perfect. 
> 
> Enjoy.

The night at Piper’s house didn't go out so well for me. While Piper was sound asleep within minutes of us going to her bed, I was constantly on edge, worrying about my next lousy night terror. Piper was dangerously close to me, and that had potential for me to accidentally hurt her if I were to thrash around in my sleep. It posed too much of a threat to her, and with layers of stress beginning to pile up on my shoulders, God knows how badly the next one would turn out. If I were to harm Piper in any way, shape, or form, the guilt would never, ever leave me, it didn't matter if it was an accident. I needed to head over to the Dugout. Maybe she would understand, I was only trying to protect her from myself.

I quietly stepped over Piper, ever so gently as not to wake her up. I tiptoed down the stairs, silently making my way to the heavy metal door that led to the loneliness that was Diamond City. Gently twisting the rusty handle, I pulled the door open, quickly stepping outside into the cold street. The beautiful night that painted the sky, still remained after our little date that we went on earlier. I only wished that I could spend a night like this, out on Piper’s roof, lying down beside her, and counting the stars together. 

I shuffled to the Dugout, dragging my feet solemnly behind me. Entering, I saw Vadim polishing one of his shot glasses. He greeted me, asking if I wanted anything to drink, and he asked why I wasn't with my “girlfriend”. I assumed that he meant Piper, and this made me blush a little bit inside. I had to explain what we weren't exactly romantically involved, and he gave me a little lecture on how to get any woman in my grasp, in the blink of an eye. But I didn't want any woman, I wanted Piper, because she wasn't like any other woman. I ordered a room for one, and dragged myself to the room. Tossing myself on the bed, I rummaged through my bag once again, like the night before. I found an old alarm clock, and I winded it up so that it would wake me a few hours ahead, giving me enough time to slip back into Piper’s to make an excuse for myself if she wondered why I had left. 

Sleep finally came to me. I slept for as long as I could, without any interruptions, and woke up a few minutes before the alarm clock was scheduled to sound off. As I pondered, staring at the water-damaged ceiling of my room, I found myself daydreaming about Piper. Her beautiful smile, those cute freckles on her cheeks, those almond shaped, piercing hazel eyes. The smooth, slightly wave jet-black hair that cascaded down to her shoulders. The lips that I so badly wanted to steal a kiss from. Her voice, so soothing and calming, I could just listen to her talk for hours on end. Her personality, always willing to fight for the truth, being a little pushy sometimes, but easily embarrassed. I’d be lying if I said I didn't want her all to myself.

The bell eventually interrupted my thoughts, so I jogged back to Piper’s house, just as dawn was beginning to approach. Once again, I quietly unlatched the door, stepping in. I was making my way back upstairs, when I heard someone clearing their throat.

“So, Blue,” Piper said. “Did you get a better night’s sleep at the Dugout?” She was sitting on her couch, legs crossed, reading a pre-war newspaper, just like a parent who was preparing to scold their unruly child.

I froze up. “What do you mean?”

“Blue, I know you went back to the Dugout last night. I felt you getting up, and stomping your way out of my house. You've never been the best at sneaking, y’know,” She looked kind of hurt. “You could've just told me you were leaving last night.”

“Piper, I’m sorry, it’s just… I was really worried.”

“Worried about what?”

“Worried about having another nightmare, and having another freak-out that could potentially hurt you. You've seen what I can do when I have those nightmares, I don't want to be the reason you were harmed.”

She stood up, tilting her head. “Come on, Blue. I know you're not gonna hurt me, even in your dreams, I know you wouldn’t. But its really… sweet that you’d actually care that much about me.”

If only you knew exactly how much I truly did care. 

“Well, now that you've been able to sleep, I hope, are you ready to head down to Goodneighbor? We should get going pretty early, we don't want to hold Nick up. Believe me.” She tossed the newspaper onto the table, attitude suddenly changing to a more gloomy one. “Just… let me go say bye to Nat first.”

She rushed over to her sister’s room, whispering something inaudible to her. After, she trotted back over to me, shooting me another one of those smiles that I loved so much.

“Let’s go,” she said.  
_______________

Goodneighbor was… fairly unpleasant, to say the least. The whole vibe was kind of scummy for my tastes, all of the people were kind of scummy chem-pushers. It was no surprise that Piper was keeping close to me when we made our way to the Memory Den. To be honest, even I was pretty uncomfortable, as we had just watched some scammer get shivved by the so-called “Mayor” of Goodneighbor. But hey, he was anything better than that Mayor McDonough guy, back in Diamond City. At least this mayor was kind of charismatic, despite the fact that he viciously murdered a man, right in front of his newcomers. 

We were twenty or so feet away from the entrance to the Memory Den, when I no longer felt Piper at my side. I turned my body to see Piper being held by some sketchy-looking drifter. He wore rags, and had scraggly brown hair, but the man stood at about six foot six, and he had the stature of a super mutant. He had a thick beard, and a plastered grimace on his face, with scabs and scars present. 

“Hey, baby. You must be that reporter, from Diamond City. Piper Wright, is it?” the man said in a hoarse, raspy voice.

Piper tried to pull away. “Uh, yeah, that’s me.” 

“What’ll it take for a gal like you, and a ravishing beast like me, to spend a night at the Hotel Rexford?”

I could feel myself becoming a bit jealous, and the territorial side was fueling up inside of me. I knew Piper and I weren't a thing yet, but still, I hated it whenever someone would flirt with her whenever I was around. 

“Look, get off of me, creep.” Piper turned her back to the man, but he wasn't giving up that easily. He pulled her back around with more force, grabbing at her neck and rear, and I finally stepped in.

“Leave her alone,” I said sternly, trying to match my tone to his. The man turned his attention to me, and shoved Piper away, causing her to fall onto the ground. He walked directly in front of me, and I had to tilt my head all the way up so that I could look him in the eyes. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but suddenly, I was socked in the face by a massive fist, taking me down instantaneously. However, an adrenaline rush took over, and I was able to pick myself up immediately. Licking the blood from my busted lip, I rushed him with a flurry of jabs and hooks, each of which colliding fiercely with his face. In addition, I made a well placed kick to his groin, returning the cheap shot that he had dealt me with when he had instigated the fight. He dropped to his knees, groaning in pain, and I finished him off with a deadly uppercut that sent his body backward, and knocking him unconscious. It wasn't over by my standards, but I was stopped by Piper hooking my arms around my back. 

“Blue, let it go. You've taught him a lesson, he’s done,” she said. And just like that, Piper was able to pacify me immediately. 

We went into the Memory Den, and Piper massaged my bruised knuckles from the savage beating that I gave the man. There were a couple of pods with people sitting in them, seemingly going through memories of their own. Nick was already present, talking to a woman in a flamboyant, feathery, red dress sitting in a seat of a similar color. 

I approached him. “Hey, Nick.”

“Oh, hey there, friend.” He noticed at the bruises and cuts that I earned from my brawl. “Good grief, what in the world happened to you? I hope you didn't have too much trouble on your way here.”

Before I could open my mouth, Piper answered for me. “Blue got into a little fight, right before we got here. You should see the other guy,” she chuckled, jokingly punching my rib. 

“You still want to do this?” Nick asked me.

“Hell yeah. Let’s go.” I said.

We followed Nick downstairs so a room with a few empty pods, and another woman was at a terminal. 

“Doctor Amari?” Nick said.

The woman turned around and sighed. “Mr. Valentine. I take it from your small band of friends, that this isn't a social call?” 

“Unfortunately, it isn’t. We need to do a memory dig, Amari, but it won’t be easy. The perp, Kellogg, is already cold on the floor.”

Amari’s eyes widened. “Are you two mad!? Putting aside the fact that you're asking me to defile a corpse, you do realized that the memory simulators require intact, LIVING brains to function?”

I was about to call this lady useless, until Nick interrupted me. “This dead brain a lot of inside knowledge for the Institute, Amari. The biggest scientific secret of the Commonwealth. We all need this, here.”

“Fine. I’ll give it a look, but no guarantees. Do you… have it with you now?” 

Nick pulled out the final remain of Kellogg. “As a matter of fact, I do.” He handed it to her.

She closely examined the piece of technology, and immediately began rambling on about some scientific stuff about the brain and the Institute. Eventually, she got to the point. “Now, Mr. Valentine is an older generation synth. But, Institute technology being what it is… this implant could fit him. An incredible risk to take, wiring something to his brain, however.”

Nick looked back to Piper and I. “Don’t worry about me, Amari. This synth is well past his warranty date.”

“I appreciate this, Nick. Thank you so much,” I said.

“You can thank me when we find your son. Let’s get this going.”

Piper and I waited, as Doctor Amari began hooking things around the back of Nick’s head. The were chatting through the process, until Amari stopped and came up to me.

“We have a slight issue. There seems to be a lock on the memories implanted in the device. We need two minds to be able to proceed with this, for the encryption is two strong for a single mind to endure. Your mind can be loaded in, delving through the memories, while Nick acts as the host.”

“Alright. Bring it on,” I said, walking up to the pod, until Piper pulled me back by the collar of my shirt.

She looked at me with worried eyes. “Blue… are you sure about this? What if something bad happens? Nick’s already at a risk himself, but what about you?”

“Don’t worry, Piper. I’ll be okay,” I said. Before turning around, I kissed Piper on the cheek to alleviate her of her worries. It certainly worked, because it caused her to freeze up. I walked over to the pod, and sat myself inside, ready to go through the mind of Kellogg. The glass shut around my seat, and Piper walked over to the glass dome above me, placing her hands on the glass. I gave her a wink, before feeling myself lose consciousness.  
_______________

By the time I made it to Kellogg’s last memory, I had no idea what to think. The cold-blooded killer actually was somewhat… human, in a sense. Kellogg, like me, once had a family of his own, until it was taken away from him. It made me a little angry that he was hypocritical enough to have to put me through the same thing. It didn't phase me as much, but I still cringed when I saw him shoot Nora, and walk away with my son. But that didn't matter anymore. I was alive now, and he wasn’t. What mattered more, was the fact that Shaun was alright, but ten years older than I’d expected, and in the hands of the Institute, and I had gained the knowledge of how the Institute got in and out of their HQ: Teleportation. 

The glass dome flung up from above me, and I quickly threw myself up, a mistake on my part. A merciless wave of dizziness impacted me, almost causing me fall onto the ground, until I regained my balance. Piper and Nick were no longer in the room with me.

“Slow movements, now,” Amari said. “We’ve never done such a procedure before, so I’ve no idea what type of side effects can be afflicted, as a result. How do you feel?”  
My head stopped spinning. “Ugh… I’m okay, I guess. Just a little dizziness, that’s all.”

She nodded. “Okay, but I want you to monitor yourself for the next few days. We’ll need to be sure that no long term damage was dealt… So, are you… ready to talk about what you've seen?”

I quickly explained the details of Kellogg’s memories to her, about the teleportation, and I told her that we needed to go to some place called the Glowing Sea to find some Institute scientist by the name of Virgil. Doctor Amari looked at me like a was a madman. Apparently this Glowing Sea was incredibly irradiated, probably one of the last places anyone would go if they wanted to hide. It wasn't a joke, and she told me that I would need a set of power armor, and anti-radiation chems. All of these instructions were beginning to stress me out, and I had to rethink taking Piper along with me. I loved having her around with me everywhere I went, and I knew that it would suck having to go on my own, but there was no way I was going to put her at this deep of a risk. Me… I was expendable now. Piper had a sister to look out for, and I wasn't going to let her risk herself this much, just to help me. But there was no way she would listen to me, because she was always so worried about me getting hurt. The only way she would listen, would probably be if I were to confess my feelings for her. 

I walked upstairs to see Nick sitting calmly in a chair in the corner of the room, and Piper anxiously pacing around, back and forth, in front of Nick’s chair. She seemed restless. 

“Calm down, Piper. He’s gonna be alright, it just takes a while for him to regain consciousness,” Nick said. 

“Nick, it’s been one hour since you got pulled out! Blue shouldn't be out still!” Piper threw her hat onto the floor. I was flattered that she would worry about me this much.

I silently approached from behind, Nick noticing me and giving me a subtle wink, before trying to distract Piper. She pinched the bridge of her nose, and I yelled sharply from behind her, causing her to jump up.    
“Blue!” she squealed, latching her arms around me like a trap. “God, I was getting so worried about you.”

“She’s right,” Nick said. “She wouldn't sit still, and kept going downstairs to check on you every five minutes. Doctor Amari said that it would take a little for your consciousness to return, because of the unusual circumstances of the whole memory dig.” He stood up. “So, now that we’ve got what we wanted, are you gonna stick around with Piper, or do you want me to come with you?”

I couldn't bear to separate from Piper, even more now, because of how happy she was to see me, even though I was only out for an hour. Plus, I myself was so attached to her by now. 

“I’m gonna stick around with Piper.”

He nodded. “Alright, then. I’ll be at Diamond City if any of you need me. Until next time, you two.”

Piper and I walked out of the Memory Den as well. The night sky had a dark purplish tinge to it, and clouds roughly patched up the sky, blocking the view of the stars. I looked in all directions, trying to find the man who was causing us trouble earlier. Luckily for me, he was nowhere to be seen. I was too weak to go for round two, so he’d most likely kick my ass.

At night, Goodneighbor was kind of appealing. The darkness really brought out the neon lights that were on the buildings, the streetlights gave it kind of a mysterious look, and it was fairly quiet. There were no guards in sight, only a few drifters resting by a fire. 

I sat down on a bench, and Piper followed. Beside me, she scooted a bit closer, touching my arm with hers. She pulled out a notebook, and began doodling little pictures on it, crossing out some notes. I could feel her lightly leaning on me, so I took it as the incentive to put my arm around her shoulders, allowing her more comfort. It’s funny, Nora and I’s first date sorta went out like that.

I gave myself a subtle charlie horse on the leg, for making another Piper and Nora comparison. I really needed to stop that. 

“Blue?” she asked.

“Yeah, Piper?”

“Well, y’know, we’ve been getting closer lately, and I feel like I can confide in you with anything, so… there’s this thing I’ve been meaning to ask you about…”

My heart rate sped up. “Y-yeah, go ahead.”

She adjusted herself to a more upright position. “It’s about my sister, Nat. Becoming like me.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean turning into me, following in my footsteps. Think about the life that we lead, Blue. Getting into danger at every corner. Personally, I’ve been enjoying the things that we've been doing together, there’s never a day where I’m bored out of my mind anymore. But I don't want that life for Nat,” she sighed. “I don't want Nat to be like me. I’ve been tearing my hair out, stressing out for days on end, wondering that if I just left her… maybe she’ll go back to being the innocent papergirl that she was a long time ago. What do I do, Blue?”

My heart hurt for her. “You just love her… I know you're afraid for her, I know that you only want the absolute best for her… but family is too precious to just leave behind. Believe me, I don't even have a family anymore. All's I have is the hope of finding my son. You, however, have Nat. She loves you, and needs you to be strong for her. Don't give up now.” 

I could feel Piper’s hand gently touching my palm, and I saw her give me a sad smile. “You’re right. Thanks, Blue. They really don't make ‘em like you anymore. You're a hell of a friend, you know that?”

“So does that mean we’re ‘just friends’ now?” I asked, jokingly.

“Uh, well yeah… I mean, uh, I guess so. Unless something changes,” she trailed off.

“Unless what changes?”

“I-I don’t know, I mean… you probably have your mind set on other things like saving your son, I’ve got a paper to run, and…”

I kept pushing. “And what?” 

She sighed heavily. “Blue, you seriously wouldn't want to get in a relationship with me. I’m a mess, I’m pushy, and I’m really annoying, like, all of the time. Its no wonder every guy I’ve ever been with always ended up running from me. They were always scared of me, or they downright hated me.” she pulled herself from under my arm, and looked at her feet.

“But do you want it?” I asked.

She gave me a sad smile. “Nate, I’m not gonna lie, I-I’ve had a major crush on you since we met. Yes, I have been thinking about us… being together. But you deserve someone better than me. The type of guy you are, you don't need some nosy reporter waiting at home for you everyday, working on an article. Let’s face it; I’m not exactly the most radiant woman out there in the Commonwealth, I’m the last person you'd ever want to be with. I’d never be able to amount to the woman that your wife was.”

Each and every word was sinking deeper and deeper into my heart. “Piper, you’re probably the most interesting woman I’ve come across out here.”

“Why don't you go into the Third Rail to see Magnolia. Maybe the you’ll change your mind. Jesus, Blue, I can't ev—”

I put my hand on her shoulder. “Piper.”

“What?”

“Just shut up and kiss me already.”

She slowly moved in on me, but she hesitated before meeting my lips. I put my hand on her cheek, and pressed my lips against hers. I could almost taste the lingering Nuka Cola on her lips, as I felt her tongue exploring my mouth. I could feel a rush throughout my body, as she pushed harder and harder into my face, reciprocating the passion that felt. My hand traveled down to her thigh, causing her to moan into my mouth. We kissed as long as we could, until we broke apart, panting from the lack of air.

“B-Blue… oh my god…” She gasped.

I guess I was caught up in the intensity of the moment, because I said, “I love you, Piper.”

“What?” she asked, eyes widening in the neon light. “Y-you love me? Blue, but… your wife, and—”

“No, Piper. I don't want to think about her anymore and be sad. Don't get me wrong, I loved Nora. I loved her. But, she’s gone, Piper. But you… you're here. And ever since I met you, I’ve wanted you so badly. I thought that losing my wife would keep me from ever moving on to someone else, but that was before I met you. I’ve had a crush on you, too, and from the moment that I saw you arguing with Danny Sullivan, outside of Diamond City. You're the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time. And you’re absolutely fucking perfect in each and every single way imaginable. I mean it, when I say that I love you, Piper Wright.”

Her lip trembled a bit. She grabbed my face, pulling me in for another kiss, until a raspy voice called from the shadows. 

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything here.” We turned our heads to see the ghoul mayor with the colonial outfit. “You two seem to be having a lovely night, but I’m gonna have to ask you to not do anything too intense on the bench tonight. Don't want you to break the bench. If you two want, you can rent a room at the Hotel Rexford, diagonally across the street, in the event that things get more… personal.”

“Oh, okay.” I lifted myself up from the bench, turning to give Piper my hand. I could faintly see a blush creeping up on her cheeks, as she took my hand. We walked over to the desk, impatiently ordering a room for one, and practically sprinting to the room. I closed the door behind us, locking it, so that nobody would stop us again. Turning around, I saw Piper biting her lip, twiddling her thumbs awkwardly, with the moonlight seeping through the window, and onto the side of her face. 

“Blue, I want this more than anything in the world,” she whispered. “But are you sure that you want this? Do you actually want me? I don't want you to make a mistake, or feel any regret.”

Without saying anything, I, as gently as I possibly could, shoved Piper onto the bed, ready to show her how much I loved her. She let out a little giggle that I silenced, when I brought my lips back to hers. I trailed my hands down her sides, down to her hips. Releasing from the kiss, I moved down to her neck, tenderly planting kisses just under her chin. I felt her shudder against me, letting out a slight moan as I gave attention to her neck. Just under her jaw, I gently bit down on the tender skin, causing her to tightly grasp my shirt. My teasing seemed to be enough for her, as she pushed me off of her, proceeding to straddle me.

“My turn now, Blue.” She smirked, clasping my cheeks in her hands, kissing me again. Her legs snaked in between mine, intertwining our legs together. I tugged on her bottom lip, savoring the sweet taste. She moved her hands down to the buttons of my shirt, turning her head up to me, as if asking for my permission. I licked my lips in anticipation, and ripped my shirt open, buttons flinging off from their seams, and tossed the shirt onto the floor beside the bed. I noticed that she brought her attention to a scar that embedded the skin, just a few inches diagonally, to the right of my belly button. The wound that I had earned during the war, after getting shot, and causing me to get honorably discharged. She ran her fingers on it, gently caressing around. The very touch brought shivers to my spine, as she placed her lips onto it.

“Shit…” I whispered, twitching at the contact from her lips. Piper looked up at me, giving me a sheepish smile as she made her way back to my face. Her soft hands went to the bruises and cuts that I got from my brawl earlier that day. I let out a light wince, before she apologized by bringing her lips to them. The torture was becoming enough for me, and I rolled her once again onto her back, making my way down to the waist of her pants. I looked up to her, making sure that I had her full consent to move on. She nodded eagerly. I slipped my fingers between the waistband and her skin, slowly pulling down her pants and undergarments, exposing her smooth, toned legs. I didn't hesitate to tease her, kissing her inner thigh, and leading up to her opening. As long as I had been waiting for this moment, I wanted to take it nice and slow. It needed to be somewhat romantic, for a night in a shanty little hotel.

After half a minute of teasing around, Piper got impatient. She was begging for me to make the next move. I moved in, centering my mouth just above the sensitive flesh, before beginning to work my tongue around her. She was struggling to keep silent, putting a pillow over her mouth to silence her moans. Her thrashing around, and her hyperventilating gave me a signal that I was doing my job. As I went on, her legs contracted in on my head like scissors, and her hands began tugging at my hair, pushing my face deeper into her. Her breaths consisted of “Blue” and some swears. I found it hard to catch my own breath, as I was exerting so much energy into my own tongue, tasting her. Just as it seemed that she was going to climax, she pulled my head up from in between her legs.

“N-Nate,” she panted. “You’re not gonna let me have all the fun, are you?” 

I shrugged. Instead of letting me get back to my work, Piper began to fumble around with my belt buckle. It was too dark, so I aided her in unbuckling it, and she quickly slid my pants down. The thirst that I saw in her hazel eyes got more intense, as she got a view of my exposed, throbbing member. She laid back, pulling me back on top over her, also removing her coat and undershirt. That allowed me to see her defined abs, sharing the same freckles that her face had. I wanted to shove my face onto her stomach, and layer it with kisses.

“Blue… Just go slow, okay? You're my first… y’know.” she breathed.

“Ok, I will. I promise.”

Abiding by her request, I slowly entered inside of her, feeling her tight walls stretch wide open. She let out a sharp gasp, pinching the skin on my sides. The pain of her nails digging into my abdomen turned me on more. I started at a slow pace, thrusting gently in, and gently out. Eventually her sharp yelps of pain, became soothing moans of pleasure. This signaled me to increase the pace a bit, edging her more and more, before abruptly stopping to repeat the cycle. Her arms wrapped around my torso, using me for support as I pumped faster and faster. The sound of the creaking, unstable bed, the slapping of our moist bodies colliding which each thrust, and our vocal expressions of pleasure were clearly audible enough for all in the hotel to hear by now. But I didn't care, personally. The moment of intimacy, the closeness of our beings, and pleasing Piper with everything I had clouded any of the care that I had for concealing our noise.

Piper beginning to reach her peak, and so was I. I could feel the tingling sensation slowly building up from within, and I could no longer hold it back. Her eyes began to roll to the back of her head, her head went backward, but I pulled her chin down to get her attention back to me. I wanted to have eye contact with her when she came all over me.

“Nathan… I-I’m gonna… I’m gonna c-cum” she whined longingly.

Putting in one final half-thrust, I could feel her contract around my member, just before she climaxed. Her back arched up, and she pushed against my force. I quickly pulled out from her, during my orgasm, leaving myself to ejaculate all over the bedsheets just between her legs. Nevertheless, it felt incredible.

I collapsed in between Piper’s neck and shoulder, exhausted. We were covered in each other’s sweat and other bodily fluids. There was no blanket around to cover ourselves with, so our only viable option was to use each other for warmth. I had no problem with that.

“Holy shit, Blue. That was… amazing,” she exhaled. Her wet hair clung to her face, making her look more flawless than ever. 

“I love you, Piper.” My mouth was muffled by her neck, so I didn't think she could understand.

She brought my head up to look me in the eyes. “I love you too, Nathan. I love you so much.” We pulled in for one more passionate kiss, but this time, with less tongue and more lip.  
   
The rest of the night was calm. We held tightly onto each other, never wanting to let go, and not even bothering to clean ourselves up. Piper’s legs were wrapped around my abdomen, and she nuzzled her head deep into my chest. This would be the first night since leaving Vault 111 that I would fall asleep genuinely happy, and I'd be damned if another bad dream was gonna interrupt it.


	6. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty long, and I was able to crank it out over the past week, due to my vacation from school and work. Yet again, there is a small time jump in within this one, and a small hint of sexual content within, but not too much, because I don't want to have Piper and Nate's relationship to just be about sex 24/7, I want to be able to flesh it out a little more with a little bit of angst and struggle within. I've been working day and night on this one, so I hope you enjoy it.

“Wake-y wake-y, Blue," sang a smooth, warm voice.

I awoke to see Piper caressing my cheek, smiling softly at me. I could smell her scent remaining in the air around me. She was half-dressed, wearing my button-up shirt that was missing all but one button on it, reminding me of last night’s special moment between us. Her hair was messy, sticking in all different directions, which I thought was pretty cute. I pulled her head closer to mine, sealing the small gap that separated us, and kissed her. The morning was already off to a perfect start.

“Good morning, darling,” I said, gently pushing away the strands of hair that covered her face.

She giggled, snorting a little bit. “That was something different last night, huh?”

“Yup. And I loved every second of it, but not as much as I love you.”

“Nate?”

“Yeah?” 

“You are such a geek,” she said, trying not to laugh at my cringeworthy comment. “But I love you, too.” 

We kissed once more, until we heard a soft knocking on the door. Piper groaned in exasperation, and I offered to go see who it was. 

“Blue!” Piper yelled.

I turned around. “What?”

“Aren’t you at least gonna put some pants on before you check the door?”

I looked down, and remembered that I was still fully undressed. I slipped on my pants, not bothering to put the shirt back on, as Piper was wearing it. The knocking became more rapid and aggressive, so I hurried to the door. I swung it open, a little bit annoyed at whoever smashing at the door with their fist.

“Yeah?” I asked, examining the culprit who was assaulting the door. A ghoul, wearing a dirty yellow suit stood in front, breathing heavily. He just stood there, pitch-black eyes staring directly into my soul. I was beginning to get a little creeped out.

“You…” he mumbled. “You…”

I nervously turned over to Piper, who was also very confused. I turned back. “M-me?”

“I… I can’t believe its really you. Do you remember who I am?”

“Uh, no, not really. Who are you again?”

“I sold you the last vault space before the bombs dropped. I saw you coming here last night, and I was going to see you last night, but you locked the door… and I heard some things happening in here. Weird noises. All these years, and you still look the same before all of this happened. How?”

I suddenly recognized the man. “We… we were in cryo-stasis. They had us frozen up for all of this time.”

He looked surprised. “They did? Good lord, they… they wouldn't tell me anything. I was supposed to be on that list for working for them, but they wouldn't let me go in. Now… now look at me. I’m a monster. All these years, and I’ve been roaming around here like a freak. I’ve had nowhere to go. I can’t go to Diamond City because the mayor threw all of us ghouls out…”

I felt sympathy for the poor guy. When we were running to Vault 111 for the first time, I remember the guards pushed him away. He, along with a few of my neighbors, had to stay outside. Supposedly, he actually was on the list. I could've sworn he died that day, along with the others. But it brought me a sense of relief that someone from my old life managed to survive. Anyways, he was probably better of staying out of the vault in the first place, or else he would have faced the consequences that everyone else did. I felt like I had to make it up to him, since he saved my life in the first place. The least I could do was send him to one of my settlements, like Sanctuary. That might cheer him up at least a little bit. 

“Hey, buddy. You should head back to Sanctuary. We’ve been rebuilding it with the Minutemen for a while now. Everything’s getting better now. Tell you what, I’ll visit you every now and then, see how things are going. I promise.” 

“You… you will?” He looked surprised, dreary black eyes becoming excited.

“Absolutely.” I spared him a few caps, and gave him a pistol with some ammunition, just in case he ran into any trouble on the way there.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” His demeanor was suddenly uplifted, and he ran out of the hall, hopefully headed to Sanctuary. I shut the door behind me, and I saw Piper with a hand over her mouth. Her eyes looked a bit watery, from the looks of it.

“Something wrong, Pipes?” I asked.

“You are so fucking sweet, you know that?” I loved it whenever she complimented me, even for doing something little.

I tilted my head down, scratching the back of my head, a little embarrassed. “Well, I try to be, you know?” I walked back over to the bed, placing my head on Piper’s lap. She stroked my hair, playing around with the long locks that were beginning to impede my vision often. She hummed softly, bringing her warm lips down to my forehead, lingering for a few seconds. An abnormal giggle escaped my lips, as I became giddy from the affection she showed me. Piper began to peck my face with more and more kisses, covering the entire surface area, until I burst out laughing from the ticklish sensation.

“So,” she sighed, breathing down into my face. “What trouble are we gonna get ourselves into next, Blue?”

I rubbed my face, heart slowly sinking, as I remembered what was next. I had to go to the glowing sea, in order to find Virgil. But, it ran too much of a risk for Piper, and I really didn't want anything to happen to her. Not after just confessing our feelings for each other, no way in hell. Still, there was enough time to stall, long enough for maybe a week until I went into the glowing sea. The big question was, should I tell her before, or leave without telling her to keep her from worrying? I didn't want her to focus on my well-being, so much so that she would begin to disregard her own. Anyways, we needed to collect supplies before, like a shit-ton of rad-x, radaway, stimpacks, and a set of power armor. 

I needed to tell the truth. “Well, here’s the thing. We need to find an excommunicated Institute scientist named Virgil.”  “Sounds simple enough,” she said.

“But, he may be hiding out in some place called the glowing sea as of now. I need to go and hunt him down, maybe get some answers out of him.”  Her skin turned as pale as somebody with radiation sickness. “Are you kidding me? How the hell would he be hiding there? No human could survive through any of the conditions there.”

“I know he’s there. I saw it in the memory yesterday. You can even ask Amari, or Nick.”  She sighed. “Alright, I believe you. But we’re gonna need some hazmat suits or something like that, maybe even power armor if we can find some.”   
That was what I feared she would say. “Piper, I’m gonna need to go alone.”

“What? Nate, what do you mean?” she asked. “No way. Never. Not in a million years. You are not going there alone, its way too dangerous. We’re going together.”

“No, Piper, please. I don't want you to get hurt out there, I love you too much, and one of us will get hurt if we’re too distracted by each other. I don't want to risk losing you.”

She clasped my cheeks. “And do you think I’m not afraid of losing you either? Blue, I love you, too, but I’m coming with you, and there’s not a thing you can do to stop me. There’s no way I could even go a minute without you, and not absolutely lose my mind. I just found out that you actually feel the same way about me, do you think I could handle not knowing whether or not you’re ever gonna come home?”

“Piper, but…” I tried to give a counterargument, but I couldn't find the right words to say. In fact, I understood every single thing that she just said perfectly, and I could relate. “F-fine. Just please, Piper, please promise me you'll be absolutely, one-hundred percent, without a doubt in mind, safe when you come with me? Please? That’s all I ask.”

Her tensity withdrew, and her sweet tone returned. “Come on, babe. You know me, I’ve always been safe around you, each and every time we've stumbled across trouble.” 

“Piper, please promise me,” I lightly snapped.  
   
“Alright, Blue. I promise.” She offered to seal the deal with a pinky swear, but I insisted the better way to ensure her promise, was with a soft, passionate kiss. Shortly after, we both got fully dressed, and left the hotel. I was still worried about having Piper come with me to the glowing sea, but there was nothing in my power that I could do to stop her. Then again, I didn’t want to have to put her through all of that anxiety of not knowing my status, for what could be days, maybe weeks. Even that would be bad enough for her health. I guess I was being kind of hypocritical, I mean I was telling her not to worry about me, when I was the one always worrying about her. If it came down to it, however, I was going to protect her at all costs. No matter what.

As we were walking, my chest tightened greatly. Did I pull out last night? Oh god, did I? I remembered every single other thing that we did, right before I came. Shit, I couldn't have another kid right now. I wanted one, but I already have Piper, whom I love very much, with me right now, and what if I got her pregnant? For starters, I doubt that she wanted a kid with me, I didn't even ask her about it before I went inside of her, she already had Nat to look after. And to add to that, this wasn't even my journey to find Shaun anymore, we were in this together now. If she was indeed pregnant, there would be two lives at risk for my sorry ass. Fuck, fuck, fuck. And we were going to the glowing sea next. As if shit wasn't already bad enough. If so, she absolutely couldn't come with me to find Virgil. God, I’m such an idiot. Why, out of all of the people, would she fall in love with me? I was a walking fuck-up, I didn't deserve her affection.  “Piper? One more thing, did I… you know, did I pull out last night?”

She looked at me, seemingly annoyed.

Fuck me, I didn't pull out. 

“Yeah, you did. If you look near the edge of the bed you see the bedsheets have a weird little glaze on them.” She pointed to where I had left my stain.

I sighed in relief. “Oh, thank God.”

“Yeah… thank God,” Piper reiterated.  
_______________

To my surprise, the glowing sea wasn't all that terrible. The only real trouble we had, was gathering up the supplies that we needed in order to go to the glowing sea safely. Only a few ghouls and radscorpions showed up. We were able to get ourselves two brand new sets of T-60 power armor, after I joined the Brotherhood of Steel. Only thing I had to do was help them out with a few jobs, mainly helping out one of their soldiers clear a place full of synths. Piper didn't like that, though. She was kind of pissed at me for joining them, saying that they were nothing but tech-hoarding, self-righteous bigots who only cared about themselves. However, she didn't stay mad for long, as later that day, I made it up to her by taking her on a date inside of vertibird. She was so happy after that, but it turns out she's deathly afraid of heights. I held her hand the whole time, and I also convinced her that I wouldn't stay with them forever, my loyalty was to the Minutemen. This was only so that I could save Shaun quicker.  
   
It’s kinda funny. More often, I would find my own decisions being influenced by Piper’s approval, though. There were a lot of times where I found myself getting real fed up with some people, fed up enough that I would crave a fight with them. I’d always been quick to start a fight, and kind of willing to do anything that would help us survive, I even cut down on some of my killing. I never liked the act of taking a life, I always hated it, but I saw it as a necessary evil in order to survive this new world. Before I found out that Piper loved me back, I always killed raiders, gunners, and hostile scavengers without hesitation. Now, I would often spare them, giving them another chance to roll the dice with their lives, and maybe turn things around, for better or worse. I only wanted to change so Piper wouldn't hate me, or ever have to be afraid of me. I just wanted her to love me more.

Anyways, we found Virgil in the glowing sea, and he turned out to be a super mutant. He gave us some new information, that we had to find a synth courser and decrypt some of his technology, in exchange that I would find a serum to cure his abnormality, if I actually made it to the Institute. Then, we tracked down the courser, who was tough to kill. He wasn't your average synth, he was a cold-blooded, killing machine. More agile, more aware, and more deadly, he fired a few shots at us, and he hit me once on the leg with a pretty good shot, keeping me down for the rest of the fight. It ripped right through my pant leg, lighting a fire on my mid-thigh. Piper went ballistic on him after that, literally ripping him apart with a hail of bullets. She practically had to carry me home after that. 

Now, we were just hanging out at Sanctuary, currently working on a massive teleportation device that would supposedly transfer me to the Institute. Some people thought it was just a suicide mission, but I knew I had the right information. Virgil couldn't lie to me, he wouldn't get his cure if he got me killed. I’d been working hard on it, despite my leg wound that hindered me from almost any and all activity at all. It hurt like hell, but I was so close to getting Shaun back, so I tried to ignore the excruciating pain. When I got him back, maybe then we could all settle down and be a family. I could once again have what was taken away from me in the first place; a family that consisted of Shaun, Piper, Nat, and I.

Wouldn’t that be something?

I was hooking up a few wires from a generator, to a console, when a shooting pain ran through my upper thigh. I slipped from the ladder I was on, and hit the dirt below me with a loud thud. 

“Jesus, Blue!” Piper yelled from a distance. She sprinted over to me, cradling my head in her arms. “Nate, I told you that you shouldn't be working like this. You need to rest, you're leg’s still fucked up.”

I groaned in pain. “I’m so close, though. The sooner I finish this, the sooner I can get Shaun back, and the sooner we can destroy the Institute, too.”   
“Come on, Blue. It’s not that simple, you can’t just say that we can get rid of the Institute and expect it to happen so easily,” she sighed. “Besides, I wanna spend some time with you, before you go. This time, I really can’t come with you, and there’s nothing I can really do about it.”

The teleporter didn't have the capacity to transport two humans, Sturges told us. It would only work for one person only, it was way too unsafe to even attempt it. I wanted to bring Piper with me, I didn't want to take the risk this time. Luckily, science had my back, so Piper couldn't argue against me this time. 

“I know, baby,” I said, reaching up to stroke her cheek. “Fine. Sturges can probably finish it up.” I beckoned Sturges to come over, and requested for him to keep working on it. He understood, and got back to building.

“Great. Come on, handsome. Let’s go get a little privacy.” She smiled, and put my arm over her shoulders for some support. I limped over to the edge of Sanctuary, right over to the wall that overlooked the creek. We sat down on the edge, and Piper pulled my damaged leg onto her lap. She partially pulled down my trousers, enough so that she could get a good look at the bandages that covered up the deep laceration on the edge of my thigh. “Did Doctor Sun say anything about this? Is it infected at all?”

“No, he said it’s just a normal burn,” I said. “But he said I’m gonna need to put a lot of alcohol on it, wrap it up, and keep off the leg for a few days. I haven't been taking that many stims lately, they make me really drowsy.” Sure, stimpacks worked like a charm, but they had some side-effects to them. They ameliorated the pain, but made me really thirsty and tired after just one injection. “Man, they really got me good, didn't they?”

“Exactly. That’s why you shouldn't be working so hard on that teleporting thing. Let someone else work on it, you actually need to settle down for a bit. You work way too hard.”

I nodded in agreement. “It’s almost done, though. Should be finished later today.”

“You’re not thinking about going today, right? Blue, you have enough time to get your son back. Just wait ‘till you heal up all the way,” she said, placing either hand on my cheeks. “I don't want you to go so soon. I wanna be with you. Just stay a little longer, like maybe a week or so? Please?”

I couldn't resist it whenever she made those puppy eyes, pleading me. “I will, Piper. I promise.” She smiled, then grimaced, as she began to peel the wrapping around the burn. I cringed, as I saw the torn, charred flesh with dried blood in the center. Stitching wouldn't fix it up, it was two wide across to be able to sew the skin together, and God knows how deep. This was gonna leave a nasty scar, way worse than anything I got in my time in the army. I’d been cut, grazed, stabbed, and shot before, but this wasn't your average gunshot wound. This was a laser shot, so it packed quite the punch. She dug through my bag, looking for the rubbing alcohol. She gave a perplexed kind of look as she slowly pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

“Blue, you never told me that you were into this kind of stuff,” she giggled, as the dangled them by the chain. A wave of heat flashed around my body.

“N-no, that’s not what it looks like… I need those, for like, things… Like building shit,” I swore.  

“‘Building shit’?” She raised her eyebrow. “Okay, then. I certainly had other ideas in mind, but if you insist on using it for other purposes…” She placed them back, and pulled out a small bottle of alcohol. I bit down on the collar of my shirt, as she began to pour it onto a dishrag. 

“I’m not gonna lie, this is gonna sting a lot.” She reached down to hold my hand. Our fingers wrapped around each other tightly, as I braced myself for the contact of the wet rag. As soon as I could feel it, and intense broiling feeling returned to my wound, this time almost as painful as the initial shot. I whimpered, gasped, and groaned, as I could hear the sizzling noise as if my leg was being barbecued. My screams were suppressed by the fabric of the shirt. I gripped onto Piper’s hand tighter, and she began shushing me softly. “Almost done. You're really tough, y’know. I’d be bawling my eyes out if I’d been hit up like this.” Her soft reassurance sure did a lot more help than any medicine did. She rubbed around the wound a little bit more, until I could no longer feel pain. After, she rewrapped my leg with gauze, pulling my pants back up, and massaging around the problem area. “Better?”

“A little bit, I guess,” I said, through clenched teeth. It still hurt to move my leg around, and it would probably take maybe a week or so until I’d be able to even to stand, without putting too much pressure on it. She was right. I was in no condition to run into the Institute, for the time being. 

Piper leaned over, and kissed me on the cheek, pulling me into the V of her legs. “I know, Blue. It looks really bad, but look on the bright side. You’ll have a cute new scar to add to all of the other ones you've already got.” She pulled out a box of cigarettes from her front pocket, slipped one into her mouth, and lit up. I didn't like it whenever she smoked. She didn't do it often, but when she did, I got a little bit scared for her. I wanted to tell her to stop, but it really wasn't my decision, whether or not she could or couldn't smoke. I used to smoke, myself, after I got home from the war, to help cope with my PTSD. It also helped me mellow out, relieving me of any stresses at the time. After Shaun was born, I forced myself to quit, and it wasn't easy at all; I was addicted to it. Maybe I’d ask her about it some other day. There were much bigger dangers out there, way more lethal than smoking, right? I mean there are Deathclaws, which are basically giant, mutated, ferocious lizards that could rip you in half without even putting in any effort.

I pulled the cigarette from her mouth, and I took a small drag from the cancerous tube, remembering why another reason why I quit. I coughed profusely, trying to get the hard, bitter taste of tobacco from my mouth. Sure, I was addicted to it before, but I sure as hell didn't like the flavor that it left.

“Smooth,” Piper said, laughing as she reclaimed the cigarette. She squeezed me tighter against her chest, dropping her head into the nape of my neck. I felt her trailing kisses up and down my spine, sending shivers throughout my body. I closed my eyes, letting her work around my neck, until I felt it was time for me to return the favor. I turned myself around, kissing her right on the chin. My hand traveled down her side, until it reached her waistband once more. I slipped my hand into her pants, planning on pleasuring her once again, until she grabbed my arm. “Nate, believe me, I’d love to go at it, but don't you think we’re a little too exposed right now?”

We didn't have sex often, as a matter of fact, we hadn't hadn't done so, ever since that night we’d spent at the Hotel Rexford. I was terrified that I would slip up, and come inside of her, getting her pregnant. We never talked about pregnancy, so I just assumed that she was too embarrassed or scared to talk about it at all. Part of me still wanted to have kids with Piper, but another part of me remembered that things were too quick, that we’d just gotten in a relationship. We weren't even married yet. I was just rushing things ahead, like usual. Shaun would have to be it, for now, because things were already complicated enough as they were. Having another kid, with Piper this time, would mean the world to me, though. The thought of just hearing the words, “Blue, I’m pregnant” gave me butterflies. And from the looks of it, Piper was already good with kids. She had a type of motherly instinct to her, from her years of watching over Nat. It wasn't my choice, however, whether or not she would want to have kids. I didn't want to have to pressure her about this, so I shied away from even questioning her about it. And I didn't want to make our relationship focus so much on sex, anyways. 

I said, “So long as I’m with you, I’d be willing to do this right in the middle of Diamond City, with everyone else watching. I don't care what other people think, I only care about you. ” She let go of my arm, and I slid two fingers inside of her. She softly yelped, causing the cigarette to fall out of her mouth and onto the ground, as my index and middle finger traveled deep inside of her. Her hips bucked up and down, closing her legs in on my wrist. Her eyes shut tightly, and her growling excited me. Just as I thought she was going to come, her eyes snapped wide open, and she turned a shade of pink. I could tell she was looking at something behind me, so I turned around, hand still in her pants, like a child who was caught with their hand in a cookie jar. 

“Uh, hey, boss. I… finished up the machine. Preston told me to, uh, come over and tell you that there’s some guy at the gates, saying you told him to come here. You should… maybe go check it out, when you two are done here…” He walked away, almost as embarrassed as Piper and I were.

Piper pulled my hand from out her pants, sighing. “Told ya we should've gone somewhere more secluded. Who do you think’s waiting at the gate?”

I wiped my hand of its moisture. “Must be that Vault-Tec guy we ran into not too long ago. I was wondering if he would even get here,” I said bitterly. “C’mon, let’s go check it out.” 

We walked over to the front entrance to Sanctuary, which had two posts at each side of it. Both of which, had one turret and a Minuteman watching the bridge, making sure that nobody would try to get through. Today, however, happened to be really foggy. They needed to keep their eyes peeled, just in case anyone tried to get in. In between the two posts, the ghoul in the yellow suit was waiting.    
“You’re actually here,” he said in relief. “I almost didn't make it. There were so many raiders, and I ran out of ammo for that gun you gave me. Didn't help that the Brotherhood of Steel holds a grudge against ghouls.”

“That’s okay. As long as you made it here, safe and sound, all is well. Come in.”He smiled, and he took one step, when his head jolted forward, causing his hat to hit me in the face. 

I almost fainted when I saw the gaping hole in the side of his head, mostly cauterized by what most likely was a laser.

His lifeless body fell forward, sliding across me, almost taking me down. He fell face-first onto the concrete, splattering blood around his head. My stomach churned violently, and I began gagging at the horrid sight of gore before me. I would never get used to seeing that type of shit. 

Just past the gate, about a dozen synths were armed with laser pistols. They marched forward towards me, aiming their weapons directly at me. They wouldn't shoot. In the center, I could see a synth courser guiding them. It was probably the Institute coming out to get me for killing one of their other coursers recently.

“Shit! Blue, get down! Synths!” Piper yanked me by my shirt, dragging me behind the cover of one of the ruined houses. I was still busy processing what I’d just seen. Those damned synths killed him. I didn't know the guy that much, but I was still enraged. I thought I could help him out. He’d gone through ages and ages of torment, and he finally caught a break, and now look at what happened to him. The Institute had to pay the price. 

I pulled out Kellogg’s pistol and blindly fired from the cover of the wall. I couldn't tell whether or not I was making those shots count. Soon enough, a the whole settlement was alarmed, and began firing upon the band of synths. I tried to get deeper into the action, but Piper held me down, preventing me. Shots were exchanged between both sides, but fortunately, no more of my people were hurt. For a second, I had a clear shot of the courser. My finger pulled the trigger, but too late. He disappeared, gone in a bright flash, just vanishing into thin air. The shots died down, and it became evident that we had “won”. But at what cost? The Institute knew what we were doing, and they were most likely coming after us now.

When I was sure that the coast was clear, I limped over to the dead body of the Vault-Tec Rep. I was going to make sure he didn't die in vain. “Sturges, fire the teleporter up. Now.”

“Right on it.”

Piper grabbed my wrist. “Blue, you're not going. You said you wouldn't leave today.” She dropped her head down. “You promised me.”

“I have to, Piper. They could've killed us, they already killed one of us. I need to get Shaun out of there. We won’t be safe until I get to the bottom of this. I’m sorry.” 

“No! Nate, you're not ready! This is suicide, and what’s gonna happen to you if they don't wanna give Shaun back? Please, don't leave me.” I could see where she was coming from. I really had no idea what the fuck I was about to get myself into, hell, even I was a little scared. Maybe even terrified. Like, pissing my pants terrified. Her calling this a suicide mission didn't do any it justice.

I had to drag her behind me to make it to the machine. I didn't want to hurt her like this, but we weren't safe. They had to have known about the teleporter, why else would they attack this settlement so abruptly? Even raiders barely tried to attack us. I felt really shitty for breaking my promise from earlier. I tried getting on the platform, but Piper still wouldn't let go. She was still latched to my arm, with tears streaming down her cheeks, begging me not to leave. A few tears managed to slip from my eyes, listening to her sobs. She kept yanking on my arm, trying to pull me away from it, as I held onto one of the metallic columns. There had to be some way I could console her.

“Piper,” I said, hugging her against me tightly. “I’m gonna be okay. Nothing’s gonna happen to me while I’m gone. ”

“H-how the hell do you know that!? How do you even know this machine won’t kill you!? They already killed the other guy, I don't want to lose you already! I n-need you!” She had a point. The machine could potentially be a death trap. And the synths were ruthless in how they killed the ghoul. 

I rubbed her back. “C’mon, babe. I was locked up in a fridge for 200 years, barely escaping a nuclear detonation. And look at me, I’m still here. I’ll always be here, Piper. No matter what. I’m gonna be okay, I promise.” That was one promise I was gonna make sure I would keep.

Piper was still crying into my shoulder, until she pulled back. Her face was flushed, eyes were watery and red. She used the tip of her green scarf to wipe away the tears that flooded her cheeks. I looked down to my callused, worn out hand. My wedding ring still remained there. I never bothered to take it off, not even after Piper got together. I don't know if it was because I felt I owed some loyalty to Nora still, or because I had just forgotten about it. Slipping the golden band off of my ring finger, I pulled Piper’s hand up, and placed it into her palm. She looked up, confused at my gesture.

“Keep this. I won’t be gone for long, but if you happen to miss me, just pull this out whenever you do. Everything’s gonna be okay, my love.”

She sniffled, and tried to smile, but more tears drew lines down her reddened cheeks. “O-okay.”

“I love you, Piper. I will be back.” 

“I l-love you, too, Nathan.” She kissed me, lower lip still quivering as we locked lips. I turned around, and planted myself right into the center of the giant platform. My leg still burned around the wound, so I had to shift my body weight to the other leg. Sturges fumbled around with some buttons on the console, rapidly entering codes and bypassing firewalls, until he turned to me. I gave him a thumbs up, and he pressed the final button. Electricity furiously ran up and down the columns, sending massive currents around. I could feel the hair on my head begin to stick up, due to the intense amounts of voltage running in the machine. I looked at Piper, who was still visibly worried, and gave her a reassuring wink, and a smile. My pulse increased drastically, but I maintained my solemn composure. I needed to be strong for Piper.

I closed my eyes, and felt myself wither away from my current position.  
_______________

Blinding blue light escaped my vision, and I found myself in a circular room, with lights of different colors running up the walls, blinking. A bright yellow light loomed down on me from the ceiling, obscuring my vision. I was still alive. Ahead of me, I could see a small, compact white room, with two stings of lights running parallel to each other. It seemed like nobody was there, so I inched myself a bit closer to the room, still wary of any synths that could be preparing an ambush for me. I cocked the hammer to the .44 magnum, and stepped forward to the white room, but my right leg gave way, and immense pain soon returned to my wound. For support, I held onto a nearby wall, limping into the doorway. My hand was shaking, as I firmly gripped the handle to the pistol, sweaty hand reducing the friction I had on the metal trigger. Honestly, I was deathly afraid, now that Piper wasn't at my side. Whenever she was around me, her presence would at least give me a confidence boost, but now it was just me. Why couldn't that stupid, no-good, piece of junk teleporter take us both? I was already starting to miss her so much. As much as it scared me whenever we went into danger together, her presence had become like a drug to me. A drug that I required. Her quirky comments and compliments always made me happy. I needed to see her face again. I swear, I was gonna give her the tightest hug ever when I got back. 

I entered the white room, which had a computer setup in the middle of it. I checked around, no more synths. The coast was clear. I was about to mess around with some of the controls on the console, when I heard a booming voice that made me stop in my tracks. 

“Hello. I was wondering when you might make it here, Nathaniel. You’ve proven to be quite resourceful.”

I shakily said, “Wh-what?” I turned around, taking a full revolution to see where the voice was coming from. How the fuck did they know me?

The smooth voice rang again. “I am known as Father; the Institute is under my guidance. I know exactly why you're here. I’d like to discuss things with you face-to-face. Please, step into the elevator.” I obliged, and trudged forward to the elevator. I wasn't going to let my loud mouth fuck anything up this time. I needed to listen carefully. The elevator, slowly slid up, not emitting any sound like any of the other elevators I’ve stepped in before. “I can only imagine what you've heard, what you think of us. I’d like to show you that we’ve made the wrong impression.”

Bullshit. You're all nothing but a bunch of predators, stealing people away from their homes, their families. Fuck you, and fuck your ideologies.

“Welcome to the Institute.” As the elevator descended, I was met with the most astonishing sight I had ever seen in my entire life. There was a whole civilization, structures with the most advance architecture you could ever imagine, actual trees that weren't stripped naked of their leaves, fountains with crystal-clear water, and people working among them. For a bunch of self-righteous psychos, they sure worked pretty efficiently. “This is the reality of the Institute. This place, these people, the work we’ve put in. A hundred years of work, dedicated by the scientists and soldiers we’ve recruited, has all gone to the progression of mankind and the survival of man. Various experiments, tireless research, and a mutual vision of how the future should be shaped. We have endured strife, trials, and difficulties, and those above ground have misinterpreted our true intentions. There very well may be a time when we can unveil our society to those above, but until then, we will remain underground. Too much risk remains around us, too much instability. I would like to speak to you about what we can accomplish for everyone.”

The elevator stopped, and I was left in a corridor that led to yet another elevator. I anxiously took it, still engulfed with fear and worry for my own life. At the same time, however, I was seething with rage. This asshole made it sound like taking people, replacing them with fake versions of them, and slaughtering innocents was for the greater good. He made it seem like killing the Vault-Tec Rep, almost killing my friends and Piper, and stealing my son, was going to somehow fucking contribute to cleansing the surface of its problems. Like committing atrocities among innocents, and claiming “in the name of science” would just absolve them of their sins. Whoever this “father” was, he was one-hundred percent full of pure shit.

“But for now, all of that can wait. You are here for a very specific reason, a very personal one. You are here for your son.” 

You're goddamn right, you piece of trash.

The elevator doors opened, and in a glass case, I saw a boy. About ten years old, or so. He was sitting down, cross-legged, staring at the floor. His dark brown hair was parted to the side, just as it was in the memory in Kellogg’s brain. It was my son, my boy. Ten years older than I had expected, but it was him. My son, Shaun. I limped over to the glass encasement that he was in, and pressed my hands against it. He stared blankly at the floor below him, not even acknowledging my arrival.

I tapped on the glass. “Sh-shaun? Is that you?”

“What? Who’s there?”

My voice started to break. “Oh my god, it’s really you. You're here… you're here…”

“Who are you?”

He must not have been able to see me. “Shaun, it’s me. I’m… I’m your dad.”

“Father, what’s going on? What’s happening?” 

I laughed in relief. “Yes, yes! It’s me! I’m your dad! I’m right here, Shaun!”

He looked past me. “What’s going on? Father? Father!”

“Open the door, Shaun! I’m right here! Come out!” I was beginning to become extremely worried again. He… he didn't recognize me. I hoped it was because he just didn't remember me from when he was a baby.

“I don’t know you! Go away! Father, help me!” He cowered into the corner, looking at in fear.

I hit the glass hard with my fist, but it wouldn't crack. “Please, Shaun. I’m here, I’m your father. Open the door, talk to me!” He still wouldn't recognize me. I kept on frantically kicking at the glass, to no avail, until one of the doors at the side of the room slid open. An elderly man stepped into the room. He had gray hair on both his beard and head. His eyes, like mine, were dark brown, and he had dimples… just like me. A similar nose shape, too. Something about this old man threw me off, partly because of the likeness in our facial features. 

“Shaun… S9-23 recall code cirrus,” he said. In his cage, Shaun shut down, almost like… a machine. They’d done something to him. I was too late. They screwed with him already. He looked lifeless, even though he was still standing. His arms drooped to his sides, and his head sunk down. “Fascinating, but also disappointing. The child’s response was not at all what I had anticipated. After all, he is a prototype. We still have yet to master the emotional stimuli.”

I couldn't find the right words to say. “What did you do to Shaun? Why is he like this? You've ruined him! You took him away from me, and you've fucked with him!  
Change him back!”

“I understand your anger as of now. I can see why you hold a grudge against the Institute and I, but you really have things twisted. Please try to keep an open mind. I recognize that you may be emotional right now, and you've endured much strife to get here.” 

“Why? Why are you doing this?” I couldn't cry. Tears wouldn't formulate. I was just in immense shock. 

He avoided my question. “We should start anew. I am Father. Welcome to the Institute.” 

“Please, just give me Shaun. The real Shaun, my son.” I was willing to get down on my knees and just beg for him now. Let’s face it, there was nothing I could do to pose as a threat against them. They had an army of synths, and I was just a lone, wounded, and scared man looking for his son. I had a feeling this was just going to be Kellogg all over again, me getting so close, but yet so far. The rug was just getting constantly pulled from under my feet.

“I know, I know. You've gone through such lengths to get here. But I need you to understand that things are much more… complicated, far more than you could've ever imagined. You have traveled near and far, suffered a great deal, but I have seen that you haven't done it alone. You have had the Diamond City reporter on your side, the Minutemen, and the Brotherhood all aiding you in your search for Shaun. We’ve been watching ever since you’d began your trek.” He hesitated for a moment. “Well, your tenacity and persistence have been duly rewarded.”

It took all my willpower to not do something drastic and take a swing at this guy, but one stupid move would end in me getting killed. And I promised Piper that I would come home. I wasn't going to let her down. Maybe if they killed me, they would just replace me with a synth and send it back, so that Piper wouldn't have to deal with any of that grief. I listened to what the bastard had to say for himself. He’d get his comeuppance soon enough. 

“It’s good to finally meet you after all of this time. I am Shaun. I am your son.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave any suggestions or critiques down so I can better the story in the future.


	7. Tears of the Son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty then, this chapter was a tough one. Also very angsty. From this point forward, I'm gonna try to keep away from too much angst in future chapter, because there needs to be more room for the actual romance. Also, there will be more side quests and characters included, since I've been seriously lacking in both. But, the main plot progression will go a lot slower now, since previous chapters have been extremely story heavy and I just need an excuse to add in more romantic things. 
> 
> So, starting with chapter 7, less angst and more happy romance crap.

It took several days for me to digest what Father, or should I say, my “son”, told me. At first I was in denial, me refusing to believe a word that he said. But he “reassured” me that everything was indeed true. Apparently, I only had no true concept of the passage of time while I was on ice. He was taken away from me, used as a template to work on those god-forsaken synths that ravaged the Commonwealth, killing innocent settlers. What made things all the more fucking grand, was the fact that since his DNA was a basis for the synths, that meant I was related to each and every one of them. He referred to Nora’s death as fucking “collateral damage” in the pursuit of science. Sure, I loved Piper with all my heart now, but still… he acted as if his own mother meant nothing to him. She still meant something to me, even though I’ve moved on. Hell, I even gave her a proper burial after I got out of the vault. Every single thing he told me made me more and more sick to my stomach. The elderly man, the son that I had strived to look for, the son I’d hoped I could bring home and have him call Piper “mom”, the son that I had dedicated my life to, before all of this, was lost. He wasn't my son anymore; he was a monster. I begged and begged for him to just leave everything and come home, but he denied me, telling me that he already was home.

I promised myself that I was going to be a great father for him. I was just a baby, maybe only a couple of month, when my father walked out on me and my mother. Barely ever new him, and I hated him for abandoning us. He was everything that strived not to be in a father. But it didn't matter. I’d only end up losing Shaun too. 

I felt appalled. I spent days in the Institute, all alone in the little quarters they gave me, as a welcome gift. They fixed up my leg properly, though. They certainly had better medicinal experience in the Institute than anyone above ground, so I was walking better in no time. What they didn't have, were any remedies for shame, and that was what I truly needed. Almost everything bad in the Commonwealth was indirectly my fault. Part of me just wished that I was the one holding Shaun that fateful day, so that I would've taken that bullet to the heart. Another part of me wanted to put him down, right where he stood, but that wouldn't end out well. Eventually, I put all of those feelings aside, stopped thinking about myself, and started thinking about the people around me. The guilt still weighed on my shoulders, though, and I needed someone to talk about it to.

Shaun made me his labor mule, telling me to do a bunch of jobs for him. First of which, was taking out a raider settlement, Libertalia. I was tasked with hunting down a runaway synth, who was freed by an extremist faction called The Railroad. He tried to paint them as the bad guys, but coming from him, they were obviously the good guys here. He didn't have me go alone, because he sent a courser with me, X6-88, so that the job would be done to absolute perfection. At least we got rid of a couple of scumbag raiders in the process. I don't know why I agreed to it, but there was really nothing else I could do. I couldn't just say no; he would probably kill me, and I wasn't ready to die just yet. I wanted to go home and see Piper, and I was still going to destroy the Institute, whether Shaun liked it or not. As far as I was concerned at this point, both Nora and my real son died in Vault 111. 

Of course, we were at a massive disadvantage. The Minutemen were way too frail, still recovering from the betrayal in Quincy. We only had a few settlements on our side, Oberland Station, Tenpines Bluff, and Abernathy Farm. If anything, it would be insanity to even think that we even stood a chance to the Institute by even a little bit. There had to be more settlements out there, maybe some people who would be willing to help us get back on our feet. The Railroad intrigued me, and even though they were leaving a mess after freeing the synths, and pretty much as reclusive as you could get, maybe we could make a deal. And I really didn't have anything against synths, at least the ones who weren't programmed to murder me. Nick Valentine was a good guy, he did help me at least try to track down Shaun.

I doubted that the Brotherhood of Steel would be of any help, though. Sure, they had their vertibirds, their shiny suits of power armor, and a huge airship to back them up, but I didn't want to associate myself with those assholes any longer than I already had before. I met their leader Elder Maxson once, and he had some sort of bug up his ass about synths, ghouls, and mutants, saying that they were abominations to society. The guy was a huge xenophobe. If I was going to decide what to do, Piper had to be in on it too. Anyways, I needed her to make sure I wouldn't do anything stupid from here on out.

Right now, I was making my way back home to Sanctuary, in the dead of night, guided by both the light of my Pip-Boy and the moon. Shaun gave me a break, telling me I should go out and take more time to weigh out our future. Little did he know, I already made up my mind. It had been almost two weeks since I had left, and I’m sure Piper was getting really worried by now. Still, I took my time as I trudged through the road, just few yards away from the bridge to Sanctuary. I could've just teleported there, but that method really disoriented me, and I needed time to think to myself. I stopped for a moment, assessing how exactly I would end up explaining everything to her. Everything Shaun had told me was a mouthful, that and it was bullshit, too. I found myself stressing on it so much, that I was biting my lip with great force. Blood trickled down my chin, and I wiped it off, feeling the roughness of my beard scrape against the back of my hand. It was really weighing heavy on my conscience, and I needed someone to vent to about it. Piper was always so caring and understanding, like when I brutally murdered Kellogg. Even then, she stood by my side, despite the savagery that escaped from within me. Hopefully she would show me the same love and compassion that she always gave to me.

I went safely through the gate, ignoring the welcomes from the settlers on the night watch, and made a beeline to my old house. I knew Piper had to be staying there. Sure enough, I saw her sitting on a damaged lawn chair, sleeping soundly. Beside her, were a few crumpled up pieces of paper, and on her lap, was her signature notebook. She had fallen asleep while writing. My heart was touched when I saw that she had been wearing my wedding ring that I lent her, it was hanging from a string around her neck, like a pendant. Her hand was clutching it as she rested serenely, peacefully, almost like an angel. Her chest rose slowly, and sunk back in, breathing at a steady pace. It might sound creepy or stalker-ish, but watching her sleep kind of brought joy to me and calmed me down of my stresses. 

Too nervous to wake her up, I paced around her. “C’mon, Blue, get a grip of yourself,” I said under my breath, weirded out by the fact that I took Piper’s pseudonym for me, instead of referring to myself as my own name. I guess I just really missed being given a nickname for the past two weeks, other than “Father” or “Nathaniel” by people in the Institute. I also missed the little things Piper would do for me, such as leaving me little notes, telling me how much she loved me. The nights that we would spend together, just lying down under the covers, talking about our pasts, laughing and crying about them. Each and every one of her kisses, whether it be on the lips or body, that she would lend me for no reason. Her sweet personality that I loved so dearly, the one that I fell in love with the moment we met at Diamond City. The feeling of her hand holding mine, our fingers entwined tightly, like a chainlink fence. That laugh that glued together the crevices of my wounded heart. The determined woman that she was, always working her heart out to get people to see the truth, to help better the Commonwealth. Nothing was going to happen to her, not on my watch. The Institute was going to burn, and I was going to be the one to light the flame. I began muttering louder and louder to myself, disregarding the fact that Piper was still asleep. “Shaun can go soak his head. Fucking little shit thinks I’m gonna work with him…” 

“Ugh,” Piper moaned, shifting in her chair. “Preston, go away… I told you, I’m fine…” her eyes fluttered open, springing open when she realized who I was. “BLUE!” She practically leapt out of the chair, into my arms, wrapping her legs around me. We tumbled down onto the patchy grass, as she tightened her hold around me, restricting me of getting any oxygen.

“Agh… Piper, can’t breathe, babe,” I choked out.

She loosened up her vice grip, but still held on to me. “I’m sorry, it’s just… I missed you so damn much. It’s been two weeks, Blue. Two weeks since you left. I didn't know if you were gonna come home. The teleporter exploded right after you used it…” I turned my head over to where the machine was formerly set up, right beside the yellow house with the open garage. All that I could see was a huge pile of scrap metal, with wire’s and generators sparking. The inner atrium was caved in, sunken in, right onto the platform that I stood on was. Shit, if I’d been there, and if it didn't even work, I would've been crushed to death by all of the metallic beams. I’m just glad Virgil didn't lie to me, and I even had his serum with me, taken from the science lab. I almost didn't get away with it, too. Sneaking past the scientists wasn't a piece of cake, either.

“Well don't worry anymore, Piper. I’m home. I told you I’d keep that promise.” 

“Nate,” she said, pulling my head down so that our foreheads linked together. Her press cap pushed my hair away from my forehead, and her the tip of her nose gently pushed into mine. I closed my eyes to take in the moment. “I… I need you to promise me one more thing. One really important thing.”

“Anything for you, my love. Anything.” I meant that, and I would until the day I died.   
“Don’t ever, ever, ever leave me like that again. Please. You can’t do that to a girl like me, y’know? I… I can deal with a lot of stress, trust me, the paper brings a load of it. But I love you, and you have no idea how crazy I’ve been going since you've been gone. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep… Not to mention the fact that I was crying a lot. I know we couldn't go together, but you promised me you wouldn't leave until your leg healed. I tried not to worry, but… I couldn’t help myself”

“I know. And I’m so, so sorry for that.” I used my thumb to brush off a tear that began to bead at the edge of her eye.  
 “I just want you to know,” she lowered her voice to a whisper. “This isn't just about you anymore, Blue. I want this to be about us. I just want to be with you, I don't want to have to worry about you… I know I couldn't come with you… but I… I just love you so much, okay? I want to fight beside you, there’s no place I’d rather be than next to you. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you…” I couldn't help but smile like an idiot, listening to her pour her heart out to me. It almost helped me forgot about my maniacal, insane, delusional, and senile son. 

“Aw, Piper. I love you, too. And I promise, from the bottom of my heart, that I will never do something like that ever again. I mean it.”

She smiled. “Great… Now come here, big guy.” She hugged me, pulling my head down to her shoulder and stroking my hair. I missed the feeling of her fingertips running around my scalp, the softness and gentleness that she gave me. I sighed into her neck, then breathing in her distracting scent of pen ink and power noodles, relieved that she didn't bring up the fact that Shaun wasn’t at my side at the moment. She was just so happy to see me. I nuzzled into her neck, brushing my stubble into her, causing her to pull back and laugh. Her gaze bored into my eyes, her loving gaze, the one that made me feel whole, despite everything that I lost. We just stood there for a minute or two, admiring each other, until she suddenly began scanning the environment around me, seemingly looking for something. “Blue, heh, I almost forgot… Where’s Shaun?”

“You know, we should really go and get some sleep. You have no idea how tired I am right now.” I tried to stall, but there was no use in trying to steer away from Piper’s curiosity. Once she wanted to know something, she would eventually prod around for the truth.

“Alright, but where’s your son?”

I fake yawned. “C’mon, let’s go to my bed. I wanna lie down with you.”

“Blue. Shaun? Where is he?” She folded her arms.

“What do you think should we do tomorrow? I think we should—”

 “Nathan!” she yelled, grabbing my wrist. “Where is he? Please, tell me right now.”

I slowly dropped my head down in shame. Flashbacks of my limited time in the Institute began creeping back. The horrid reality that slapped me across the face, ripping me away from my hope to find my young boy. I held back from the question, remembering the things he said to me. The person he had become…  
_______________

“Bullshit. You’re lying, that’s not true… Where’s the real Shaun?”  

“It is true. Is it so hard to believe that it was not ten years that you were gone, but sixty?” He very well could be correct. But I didn't want to believe that. No, that was just insane. There was no way my own son could be biologically older than I was. I couldn't have missed out on that much of his life… I couldn't have. All that time, locked up. He was just a baby the last time I was holding him, it wasn't feasible that he had all of that time on me. 

“You… h-how? How can that even be? You can’t be my son… you're too old…”

“Yes, the time elapse. While you were in the Vault, cryogenically frozen, you had no concept of the loss of time. But then you learned that your son was no longer an infant, but a ten year old boy. You believed that ten years had passed.”

“Y-yeah… But still, I… I couldn't have been out for that long.”

“Is it really so hard to believe that it was not ten, but sixty years that had passed? That is the reality.” He turned his eyes to the synth boy. “And here I am. Raised by the Institute, and now its leader.”

I had to believe it. If mutated, green humans roamed the earth, if giant irradiated lizards stalked people in the night, if artificial humans were being made to infiltrate society, then anything was possible. 

“But… it wasn't right. The way that they took you from me, not to mention everything that they've done.”

“To you, and many around you, that may certainly seem to be the truth. For the Institute, however, it made all of the sense in the world.”

“It is the truth.” I asserted, shocked that he would dismiss the vile manner that he was stolen from me, so easily. It was as if he was brainwashed.

“In the year 2277, the Institute made immense progress in synth production. Even then, it was still not enough.” He rambled on about the history of the Institute, but I was too distraught to be able to listen on perfectly. He spoke about why they needed to take him, so that they could make the most ergonomic, most capable machine that ever was created. So that they could emulate human behavior, in a way so close that they would blend in wit society. The way that he spoke about their history, so engrossed and in-depth with his explanation, it seemed as if he didn't care about the shit that I went through to find him.

“Huh. So the wacko science experiments needed specimens. That’s why they took you?”

“In some interpretations, yes, that is why.” Again, he dragged on about how they needed the most pure DNA possible for their work. Since the Commonwealth so incredibly irradiated, people’s DNA were bound to be mutated or corrupted in some manner. His next words would take my world, flip it upside down, and rattle it around more than it had already been. “It was my DNA the became the base of the synthetic organics manipulated to create the very humanlike synths that you see today. I am their Father. Through science, we are family. You, the synths, and I.”    


My head hurt like hell.

“Shaun… it… it really is you…”

“It really is. I know you must have questions, and I am willing to answer any one of them.” 

“Your mother… she never got to see you grow up.”

He sighed. “Yes, I have looked through the records of the events in which her death occurred. Merely a result of collateral damage.”

“Collateral damage? She was your mother, she loved you!”   


"You must understand that I have no direct memories of her. I remember nothing of the kind of person that she was, and I have had my whole life to cope with the loss. You certainly have moved on with it, have you not? After all, I have seen the deepness of the relationship you've grown with Miss Wright, of Diamond City. It is not just one built on friendship anymore, I understand.”

Now he was just treading into the wrong territory.

“Shaun, leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with any of this. Don't hurt her, please.”

“I do not plan on doing so, so long as you do not cause any direct injuries to me, or my family.”   
“Shaun, I am your family. None of these people, they aren't you're true family. Just please, come home… leave all of his behind.”

“You do not understand, father. I am home.” It felt like a punch to the stomach, hearing him speak more. He chose the Institute over me, his own flesh and blood. You’d think that after seeing all of this shit I had to go through to get here, he’d have sympathy for me. He considered a bunch of scientists who played god, as family, rather than me. “I hope you can understand my decision, for the progress we have made is too far to just abandon now. However, there always is another option.”   
“Another option? What do you mean by that?”

“Join us. Become one with the Institute, and you will be a part of our family.”

“You can’t be serious right now. No. No fucking way.”

He offered his hand out to me. “It will take you multiple days to come down to a decision. Just wait, take time, and you will find place.” 

“You're going down a path that I can’t take… I can’t be a part of the Institute. This, all of this, it’s evil. People are dying because of this, it isn't right.”

“From a certain point of view, it may seem that way. But you must understand that you have only seen one side of us. We are only trying to benefit humanity. I urge you to stay here, work with us for a while. Then, you will certainly change your mind on the subject matter. ” 

I planned to object, but my tongue was caught up in a knot. “Fine,” I said, immediately regretting the decision. 

“Very well. I will introduce you to our best courser, X6-88. He is our finest assassin that we have created so far, and will be of much help for you on your first task that I must ask of you. Please, acquaint yourselves, then meet me in my quarters so that I can give you the details of the mission. After it is complete, you may take as long as you need to understand”

The door that he entered from opened once more, and the same courser that led the attack on Sanctuary came through. His heavy, padded trench coat, with the black, thick-rimmed glasses with opaque shadings to them. In his right hand, he held the same blaster pistol that shot blue bolt into the back of the Vault-Tec guy’s head. This was the same thing that tried to kill me and all of my closest friends. The same one that I had clear shot of, but pulled the trigger a second too late. He wore a cold, blank expression on his face, as he slowly walked over towards me, putting forward his free hand out in front of him. 

“A pleasure to be working with you. I can ensure that the next task at hand will go by very swiftly, so long as you and I are on the same page.” I shook his hand reluctantly.

I looked over to Shaun. He watched over us carefully, stroking his beard, and nodding his head in approval, before leaving exiting the room.  
_______________

“Shaun won’t be coming home, Piper,” I said bitterly.

Piper’s jaw dropped. “Wh-what? What do you mean, Nate?”

“He’s gone. Long gone. I should've never had hope in finding him in the first place.”

“They… they killed him, didn't they?” she said, almost tearfully. “Those fucking bastards… I’m so, so sorry.”

“Actually,” I began chuckling weakly. “He isn't dead at all. As a matter of fact, he’s as alive as can be.”

“But… why isn't he coming home then? If he’s alive, then he should be able to come home, right?” 

“Because he’s,” I struggled to get the words out. Despite the burning anger I felt towards Shaun for his betrayal, I couldn't help but feel hurt still. “Because he’s working for the Institute. What am I saying, he owns the Institute, for Christ’s sake.” I began laughing uncontrollably, finally relieved that I had removed a heavy weight from my shoulders. There was certainly no hilarity to the situation at hand, but I still found it kind of funny. 

“Blue, what do you mean?” she grasped my hand, bringing it over to her mouth. 

I finally got ahold of myself, getting all of the laugher out. “I was too late, Piper. Sixty years too late. Goddamn Institute did take him for a reason, and that reason was because they needed him for their science bullshit. And now, he’s older than I am.”

“Nate…”

My throat began to swell. “They used his DNA as a template to make synths. That means that I’m basically related to each and every one of those Gen-3’s that you find killing innocent people left and right.” I dragged my nails across my face, tearing through a thin layer of flesh. 

“Calm down…” she held my arms to keep me from clawing at myself.

“Technically, all of this shit’s my fault, in a way… But I couldn’t have stopped all of this, there’s no way I could’ve. I begged Shaun to just come home,” I said. “But he wouldn't listen. He told me he already was home.”

“Hey, come here,” she said, standing on the tip of her toes to pull me back into her embrace. “Everything’s gonna be okay, I’m here.”

“I already ended up doing some of his dirty work,” I grumbled.

She pulled back. “Y-you did? It wasn't that bad… was it?”

“Not really. I only cleared out a raider settlement with one of his coursers. Libertalia, you might’ve heard of it before. Shaun said it was high-profile.”

“Yeah, I had an article on it before I met you. Almost got shot trying to get an up close view of it one day.”

I sighed. “Well, they're all gone now. Dead. We cleared the place out, mainly to do a synth reclaim job.” 

“I mean… that’s kinda good, I guess. If it means you took out a bunch of raiders, then maybe the Institute has done something good for the Commonwealth for a change.” She rubbed my shoulder, kissing me on the chin as an effort to try to calm me down. But she didn't see the Institute firsthand. They would never be acceptable, not by my standards, not even if my own son wanted me to join them. I didn't want her to get things twisted, and think for one second that they had any redeeming factors.

“No, that doesn't matter. Anyone could have gotten rid of those raiders, not just the Institute. They’re still monsters, no matter what they do.” 

“I know. I’m so sorry, Blue. You don't deserve any of this. You're too sweet, too perfect to have to be dealing with all of this shit. I just wish there was someway I could fix all of this in an instant for you…” 

“There is something you could do for me…” I said, pushing my face into her hair, comforted by the safe feeling that it gave me.

“Anything for you, Nathan. I will do absolutely anything to make you happy.”

“Just stay with me,” I trembled into her ear. “Please, don't ever leave me, Piper. I need you, I just can’t live without you. You're all that I have left anymore, and I love you.” When I said that, I meant it. There was nothing else in the Commonwealth that drove me to keep on fighting anymore, but her. I’d already lost everything that I’d loved before, I couldn't bear to deal with it again. Falling in love with Piper was the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and it’s the main reason why I was able to even keep looking for Shaun in the first place, even if I never brought him home in the end. I needed someone to keep me in check, and to care for me. Otherwise, there really wasn't any reason for me to keep moving on, nothing to keep driving me. 

“Blue,” she whispered. “I will never, ever leave you, no matter what, okay?” Her delicate arms held me against her small frame, tracing her fingers in a pattern around my bruised back. “You’re never gonna be alone ever again, and I promise you that. It hurts when I see you struggle, but none of this is your fault. It was you, who came to me when everyone was putting me down for who I was, when I thought that fear and hate was all that there was to life in the Commonwealth. You risked your life for me before, I know it as well as you. Nobody has ever wanted anything to do with me, but you. Of course I’ll stay, because I love you.” 

I balled my fists up. “I’m gonna destroy the Institute from the inside out, Piper. And Shaun isn't gonna stand in my way.” 

I don’t know if it was a horrible thing, to think that I was gonna kill my son. I wasn't too religious, killing became a part of my daily endeavors, but taking Shaun’s life seemed like the most immoral thing I could do.

Whatever… He surely had more blood on his hands.    


"One thing at a time, Nate. Just take things slow. And we’re gonna do it together, okay? Until then, we gotta take things easy, be a little more cautious, even though caution really isn't my style.”   


"Okay. But the Minutemen, as they are right now, won’t be enough. We don't have the firepower to take the Institute on anyways,” I said. “I wanna find out more about the Railroad. Shaun sees them as a threat. Maybe we can make a deal.”

She exhaled heavily. “Well, were gonna have some trouble finding them. They're super secretive, and I only have a few notes on them.”

“It can wait, anyways. Well get a jump on it soon, Shaun expects me to take some time to think it all over, so there’s enough time.”

After that, we went to my old bedroom, and cuddled on the small mattress on the ground. This time, my head was on her chest, as she petted me gently, humming a soothing song to help me fall asleep. As sweet as that was, I happened to be planning out our next move. The Railroad had a motto, “Follow the Freedom Trail” so I assumed I would have do just that. Only problem was, I had no idea what in the world this “freedom trail” was. There was already a lot of ground to cover in the Commonwealth, so this would most likely follow up with another month or so of following vague leads and clues, trying to find this Railroad. But they were our only hope. Maybe Nick Valentine could help us again, he was a real detective after all. Most of his work was the reason that we were even able to find the Institute. I would need to take advantage of the extra time that Shaun had given me, because would certainly become suspicious after a while. He’d been watching me before, who’s to say he would be spying on me again? 

When an hour or so passed, Piper went silent, meaning she had fallen asleep before I had. I tried my best slip out quietly, just for a minute. Before leaving the room, I quickly pecked her on the cheek, softly whispering “I love you,” before I sneaked into Shaun’s old bedroom. I saw the ruined white walls, covered in dirt, and chipped wood hanging from them. His old toys remained on the floor, left untouched since the day I set foot back in this room. His blue crib still stood to the far end of the room, the last place that I had solace with him, before all of this happened. I walked over to the edge of it. My son was supposed to be in that crib now, an infant, when in reality he was head of the Institute, all grown up. 

“That evil prick, I hope he fucking burns in hell for this shit.”

I would've destroyed that crib right then, but something inside me told me not to. I closed my eyes, envisioning a new son or daughter sleeping inside of it, Piper walking into the room, a warm smile on her face, as she picks up the baby, cradling it gently inside of her arms. As she holds the infant, she turns her head, to kiss me on the lips. Everything is okay in my mind, as the life that I once had, but then lost, is finally rebuilt. In that vision, I have a family again. I hoped it was one of those prophecies that Mama Murphy always told me about, the “sight” or whatever it was called, where most of it held out to be true.

All of that would need to wait, though. As long as the Institute was still around, it was still too dangerous to dwell on things like that. In time, Piper and I would track down the Railroad, end the Institute, and then we could settle down and talk about a future.


	8. Elysium

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut is really all I can say to summarize this chapter. There really isn't much story progression in this chapter, and it'll be that way for a few more chapter because I want to slow things down and take more time to work with the romance element of Nate and Piper's relationship. However, there will be a few side quests included and more NPCs added in as well. Chapter 9 will also take the longest to write, so gimme a bit while I try to gather everything together in my mind, it certainly will not come within the next two weeks since I'm having really bad writer's block that I'm coping with along with other life issues I gotta handle. Thank all of you and I 
> 
> That's pretty much it, I really have nothing else to say. Enjoy :)
> 
> (The next chapter will probably be all from Piper's perspective, since I feel like this romance must take place in the minds of both character. It may seem late, but I feel like this is the perfect time to start with the switch. You've seen a lot from Nathaniel's POV, now you need to see it from Piper's. The chapters from now on will alternate from POVs. It might still stay from Nate's though, since I feel like I'll do a god awful job at trying to work from Piper's perspective due to her being a tough character to write.)

I screwed around with the controls to my Pip-Boy, switching between radio stations and trying to navigate around any signals that could spark a lead, the slightest that would expose any information on the Railroad. Nothing came up, just repeats of classical songs and Travis publicly embarrassing himself on Diamond City Radio. After cranking the wheel that swapped stations, loud static pierced my ears, booming around Publick Occurrences. I tried to adjust the volume, but I only increased the intensity of the fuzz screeching from the speaker. Even now, I hardly knew how to work the goddamn thing. As the noise continued to erupt from the device and I began to bash it with my fist, Piper scolded me for the ruckus I was causing. 

“Blue! C’mon, I gotta finish proofreading this article, and you're not making it any easier with whatever you're doing over there!” she whined. For about an hour and a half, she’d been pacing around the living room, softly reciting the words on her paper to test the flow of her work. I’d been sitting on her couch, trying to make myself useful and keep on progressing with our hunt for the oh-so-secretive Railroad. 

“Shit, sorry.” I tried to muffle the sound, but it was still loud enough that even people out in the market could probably hear it. I made the smart decision, and switched the Pip-Boy off, using the orange power button near the bottom of the screen. The static abruptly stopped, and I sheepishly looked at Piper, embarrassed with by the fact that I was still a novice with controlling the device. 

She sighed. “No, I’m sorry… It’s just I’ve been getting really stressed out about this next article. It needs to be as perfect as can be.”

“Why? What’s it about?” I asked, suddenly fascinated about what she was writing. She’d always been dedicated to her writing, but lately it seems like she’s been getting a little tense or on edge about what she was working on.

“Well, it’s kind of about…” she held back, adjusting her little hat on her head, smiling at me, hazel eyes glowing as she tilted her head to the side. “You…”

Me? I know my life read like a soap opera, but hadn't she already written one story about me already?

“Really? Why me again?” 

“Why wouldn't I?” she laughed, seating herself beside me on the couch. My hand was met by hers, her smooth hands caressing my callused, rough hands. “In all seriousness, it’s really just another short story about you. Y’know, the things that you’ve went through, the struggles you've endured, an update on how you've managed since the last one I wrote about you. Besides, more people deserve to find out about how incredible you are.” She pinched my cheek.

I blushed hard. Her compliments to this day would still somehow soften me up, making me a little embarrassed on the inside. I leaned in to kiss her, and we shared a passionate kiss on the couch, for maybe about a minute or two. We were really getting into it, starting to feel each other up, groping at each other aggressively, getting more and more aroused. Our make-out session was interrupted when Nat walked through the front door, walking in on us as we had our tongues deep in each other’s mouths.

It was no surprise. Since we’d gotten together, every intimate moment that we had would end up being interrupted in some way. Anything further than a kiss or a hug would be cut short, and it kind of made me angry. We didn't try to make our relationship visible to the public, it’s just people would come around at the worst times. There was this one night that seemed absolutely perfect, we were at a camp, sharing a fairly small sleeping bag, one thing led to another, and we’d just gotten naked when a radstorm rained on our parade.

“Uh, Piper? What are you guys doing?” Nat asked. 

Piper pulled away from me. “W-well we were just… hanging out, right?” she looked at me trying to reassure Nat that nothing was going on at the moment. 

“Doesn’t look like you guys were just hanging out, sis,” she remarked, and she wasn't wrong.

We had to slowly tell Nat that we were no longer just friends anymore. She said she wasn't surprised, telling me that Piper was always making googly-eyes at me whenever I wasn't looking, and that she would never stop talking about me to her ever since I came along. There was even one instance where she’d almost admitted she had a crush on me when she was writing that “View from the Vault” article. As she went on with more and more stories, Piper progressively became more flustered, trying to shush Nat to get her to be quiet, but she wouldn't stop. She eventually finished, going back outside to go back to selling papers, leaving Piper and I in an awkward silence.

I could already imagine her staring at me while I wasn't looking. I remember there was this one time, before we were dating, that I was lockpicking this one safe on the ground in a warehouse. As I was bent over, out of my peripheral vision, I spotted Piper taking at gander at my ass. I didn't read too much into it then, but now it all made sense. 

I gave a devilish smile to Piper. “So…”

“Shut up.” She picked herself up from the couch, tucking her hat on to cover her red cheeks. “So, I think it’s just about ready to get printed. But, I don't want to do it without your permission. Here.” She placed the draft in my hands, urging me to go through it. I looked through its contents, recognizing a few anecdotes from our adventures together, from the time where I’d fallen in the river at Sanctuary and she had to pull me out, to when I’d saved a group of scavengers from a feral ghoul ambush using only a baseball bat covered in barbed wire. Near the end, there was a small section dedicated the hardships I’ve been through, and how I’ve been able to cope with them. With the way it was written though, it didn't hurt to see the suffering written inked down on the paper. Instead, the way she’d manipulated the words gave me a sense of happiness and security, seeing how she sympathized and how closely she could see things from my point of view.

“Wow, this is…” My voice cracked, so I cleared my throat. Still, my brain couldn't find the words I wanted to say.

She knelt down in front of me, putting her hands on my knees. “You don't want me to publish this one, do you? ‘Cause I can understand if you don't want me too, if it’s too personal.” 

“No, no it’s not that. It’s just,” I flicked off a tear that tried to leave my eyes. “This is really fuckin’ good. I’m not being narcissistic about it or anything, but you somehow managed to make my life seems way more interesting than it already turns out to be.”

Piper jumped up, seating herself on my lap, and putting her arms around my neck. “So, is it alright with you if I publish it?”

“Hell yeah.” 

“Great. Lemme go upstairs and finish it up.” She hopped up out of my lap, but I didn't want her to leave just yet. With all of the work she’d been putting into this new article, Piper needed to take a well deserved break. And I was going to help her to relax.

Just before she could make it to the staircase that led to her room, I stopped Piper, gently pushing her into the wall. My hands dug into her shoulders, keeping her secure against the wall. I could see a shy smile curl up on her lips, as she tilted her head back, resting it against the wall behind her. She gave me a look that said “Bring it on” as she closed her eyes, using her tiny hands to pull my waist into hers. I bombarded her neck with kisses, leaving a trail of love bites down on her warm skin. She moaned, unsuccessfully trying to keep her volume low, but it was futile. 

Piper eventually shoved me off playfully, moving to the coffee table at the center of the living room that had a few bottles of Nuka-Cola standing on, some newspapers, and multiple pens and pencils. Using her boot, she kicked all of the contents off and onto the ground, proceeding to push me onto the table onto my back. As I laid on my back, she straddled me, starting to strip me of my shirt.

I stopped her, even though I wanted it. “Piper, Nat’s outside. What if she hears us and comes back in?” 

“She won’t,” she reassured, taking her press hat and flinging it over to the hatstand in the corner of the room. 

“But—”

“Shh.” She quelled me, placing a half-gloved finger above my mouth, and I obliged to shut the fuck up. I was extremely turned on by Piper’s dominance, she seemed too sweet to be this demanding. Even during our first time, she wasn't that dominant, we both took our turns at each other. But now, oh boy… now she was putting me in my place. Piper was going to have her way with me.

I squirmed under her, until she pinned my shoulders down. I could feel an uncomfortable growing tightness in the crotch region of my pants, as she licked her lips and started to suck on my neck. The sudden sensation of her teeth and lips pressing down hard just under my jaw drove me wild. It was almost so intense that I could start to feel myself fading away, I was shuddering uncontrollably. The table under us began to creak, as she began to grind on my lap at the same time. 

“P-Piper…” I sputtered, trying to get ahold of reality.

“Mm?” she said, lifting her head up from where she was giving the hickey. “Ya’ want me to stop or something?”

“No… keep going…”

I didn't stop her because I didn't like it. I just needed her to hold off for a few seconds, it was so good that I legitimately thought I would pass out. 

As I closed my eyes and tried to regain my senses, Piper’s tongue darted through my closed lips and wrapped around my own. We put in so much force that I could feel my lower lip begin to swell up just a bit. Stupidly, I tried to roll over to get on top of Piper, but instead the table ran short and we flopped onto the ground. Instinctively, I wrapped my whole body around her so that I could break her fall and take most of the impact, despite the fall was barely a foot high. 

Although I absorbed most of the fall, our faces collided with each other’s, as we were still locking lips when we fell. When I pulled back, I saw that Piper’s upper lip was split just a bit around the corner of her mouth. Blood started to formulate.

“Shit! Piper, I’m so sorr—”

Once again, without a word, she brought her hand to my mouth. Her thumb traced around my lower lip, already tender from the intense kissing, which now drew a bit of blood as well. I meant to wipe it off with the sleeve, but another set of lips kept me from acting on that. In my mouth, I could taste a faint bit of iron from the blood that flowed from our lip wounds. I grimaced at the bitter taste, but I couldn't help but throw myself deeper in Piper, disregarding the sharp pain I felt from the cut.

Soon enough, we felt it was safe enough to move on to the next level. Piper started to pull the rest of my clothes off, pulling my pants down to my ankles as slowly as she could, tantalizing me. Though my boxers, my erection protruded fiercely, causing me great discomfort. Piper must have noticed my agony, because she took her sweet time to move herself up so she could pull them off. She looked at me seductively as she removed the last barrier that kept us from finally getting some relief.

Just as her fingers made their way between my underwear, I heard a dreadful knock on the door. 

“Fuck!” We both said, sinking back into the floor in defeat. Reluctantly, I yanked my pants back on, standing up. Piper stayed on the ground, pouting and muttering to herself as I slowly walked toward the door, fuming. It was just unfair. Almost as if some otherworldly being was watching us, waiting for the perfect time where they could ruin everything for us. 

Placing a death-grip on the handle of the door, I twisted the knob, almost as hard enough to snap it right out the socket. The door swung open, and the bright, sunny sky contrasted with a pair of yellow glowing eyes, almost like two little individuals suns that intimidated me. Nick Valentine.

My demeanor changed in a flash. After all he’d done for me, I could never be an asshole to him. “Oh hey, Nick. Come on in,” I invited him to come inside of Publick Occurrences, forgetting to ask Piper if it was okay for him to. I assumed it would be fine with her, considering her relationship with the detective.

“Hey kids, I was j—” he cut himself off, surveying the room, along with Piper and I, looking as if he’d just seen a Deathclaw go head-to-head with a mirelurk queen. “What in the heavens happened here? Why are you always injured in some way whenever I see you?” He swerved his attention to Piper. “And why do you look like you just came out of the lockup again? What were you two just doing?”

“Blast Radius,” Piper squeaked. Never heard that one before. 

“Do you two usually end up with busted lips, bruised necks, and ripped clothes when you're playing board games?” He examined my neck closer, but I put my hand up to cover the marking Piper gave me.

“We weren't fighting,” I reassured him. “We were just… kind of…”

“…getting ready to do the dirty, were you?” he finished my sentence. Piper went scarlet, and I had nothing else to say. He smiled, the first time I’d ever seen Nick give a genuine smile. “Given all of the factors, and the fact that everyone from the market to the upper stands could hear you, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you were.”

I’d say I was embarrassed about everyone getting an ear in on our private time, but honestly I could care less. If they heard us, they heard us. As long as Piper was enjoying herself, everyone else’s opinion was irrelevant to me. 

Same as Nat, he said it was no surprise either. This time, he talked about how when we were at the Memory Den, Piper had confessed her love for me to him in her state of panic. She’d confided in him for the whole time I’d been unconscious after I was unhooked from the memory. There was also the night at the Dugout, when I swept her into a hug and gave her a smooch right on her cheek. I had a shit-eating grin on my face, as he told me more and more juicier details, and Piper stood in the corner of the room, hands over her ears, trying to ignore it all.  
He eventually brought up a new topic. “So, where’s your kid? I figured you’d most likely have him back after all of this time.”

Shaun…

“It’s a really, really long story, one that I’d rather hold off on telling for a bit.”

“Yeah,” Piper stepped back into the conversation. “But, we kinda need your help again, for a certain group of individuals.”

“Piper, you know that I have zero recollection of anything about the Institute.”

“No, not them. We mean the Railroad.” 

“Well, I’m afraid you're at another dead end,” He said. “I know just about as much as them as I do about the Institute. Only thing I’ve heard remotely related to them is their rumored catchphrase. Follow the Freedom Trail, or something like that.”

Yep, heard that one already. I’d heard that little phrase so many times by now when asking for the Railroad, it became the bane of my existence.

“Yeah, we already knew that. Thanks anyways, Nick,” I sighed.

“Sorry. I wish the was some way I could help you guys. Oh, and sorry I, uh, interrupted you two.”

Nick walked out and left Piper and I to our solace again. My back to the wall, I slid down dejectedly, trying to get a sense at how in the world we would ever find the Railroad. Sooner or later, Shaun would expect me to have made up my mind about joining him, and he’d want me to return to continue working for him. We needed to get the Railroad so we could somehow try to work with them and destroy the Institute together. Would've been easier if they hung out in plain sight like the Minutemen, but that’s the main reason why the Minutemen are just barely alive these days.

“You okay, Nate?” Piper joined me, seating herself on the ground beside me.

“Yeah, I’m alright. It’s just that this wild goose chase trying to hunt down the Railroad is wearing me out a bit.” I pulled my knees up, wrapping my arms around them and hiding my head. 

She placed a firm hold on the back of my hand. “Hey…” I peeked out from the hole I buried myself into. Piper smiled at me, revealing her rows of perfect white teeth. I tried to smile back, but my fucked-up lip hurt too much to do so, instead I made a awkward scowl. “We’ll find them somehow, alright? Don't you worry.”

“You think?” 

“I don’t just think we will, Blue. I know we will.”  
   
Instead of getting up and actually doing something productive, Piper and I continued to chill out together. She went up to her quarters to grab a book so that we could pass by the time, and when she came back downstairs, she had an old, dusty, long novel under her arm. When she blew the dust that enveloped the entire hardcover, I could hardly make out the letters, and Piper said that it was one of her old romance novels. Now, I’ve never told anybody this other than Nora, but I was a huge sucker for a good romance. Whether it was cheesy, raunchy, or just downright corny, I secretly owned at least about a dozen of them. 

I pretended like I was half-interested when she asked me if I wanted her to read it to me, but on the inside I was going mad. If we couldn't get the peace of privacy in real life, maybe just reading a book could simulate the things that we wanted to do. Needless to say, it started off incredibly slow, and by the fifth page we’d lost interest with it, and what was written on the pages just made us want each other more.

To get our minds off of it, Piper eventually took herself back upstairs to her terminal so she could type up her new article and get it out on the presses. I just followed her up to watch her work. It wasn't that boring, watching her tap keys on the terminal while I had nothing else to do. She worked diligently, looking up and down from her draft on her notepad back up to her computer screen. Every once in a while, she would pick up her pencil and start chewing on the tip with the eraser on it. Then, she would turn to me and flash me a seductive little smile with the pencil still in her mouth, shooting me a wink as well. The urge to run over and start kissing her harder than ever surged in me, but Piper was hard at work and I didn't want to be a bother.

Evening came—about three and a half hours later—and my thirst for Piper’s lips still wasn't satiated properly. She still happened to be working, so I figured it’d be best for me to go out and distract myself, maybe just head out and go grab something for us to eat. 

I kissed Piper on the cheek while she continued to type, but she leaned into the kiss. I went outside to the shops, trying to decide upon whether to go to Takahashi’s to get noodles again, or maybe head to Polly’s butcher shop and see if she had anything that wasn't spoiled in stock. It’d cost a bit more for fresh raw meat to cook, and it’d take some persuasion, for Polly always happened to be irritated. Then again, almost everyone in Diamond City but Piper was angry about something. Going up to the Upper Stands to buy something would be a chore, and I did not want to have to have to suffer Ann Codman’s annoyance once again. The rich folks here were so high and mighty, and I wouldn't bear to listen to one word of their complaints of another filthy commoner wandering up into the Stands.

Takahashi’s, it was. 

When I got back to Piper’s place, she was sprawled out on the couch, cigarette in her hand, eyeing an old Boston Bugle newspaper. I placed the noodle cups on the naked table, and sat on the edge of the couch that wasn't occupied by Piper’s body. 

“Blue?”

“Yeah, Pipes?” She hated it when I called her that pet name, but I thought it was cute when she got frustrated with me for saying it.

She sat up, reaching one arm around my shoulder and opening the paper in front of me. The main headline was from the scheduled baseball game from October 23rd, 2077. “I’ve never asked you this before but… what was Diamond City like before the bombs dropped? I’ve heard a little bit about it, but I wanna hear from someone who’s actually seen it in their time.” 

“Sure,” I said, trying to recollect the few times that I spent at this very stadium back in the day. “Well for starters, none of these houses were present at the time. Instead, there was a huge field, with actual grass that was green. The diamond at the center was made of dirt, usually for when people played baseball.”

“Oh, and baseball… what was that like?” she asked.

“I was never really a big fan of baseball, honestly. Seeing people smack balls with wooden bats, running around the bases for two hours never really piqued my interests.”  “Wait… that’s what baseball was like? No killing or injuring the other team?”

“What?” I was dumbfounded by the idea of death during a baseball game. Every once in while there was an injury or two, maybe someone got their lights knocked out by a hard hit or a sprained ankle from all of the running, but never was there a single death incorporated in the game. “No, nobody died during those games. What gave you that idea?” I laughed.

“Moe Cronin, the guy who sells the swatters and other baseball crap.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Of course. I’m no expert on the sport or anything, but I can guarantee you that I would know way more about baseball than he could ever dream of learning.”

“Tell me more about Diamond City.”

I told her about the walls, the once vibrant, green walls. How the colosseum was once actually sanitary, and the only thing you had to worry about was getting hit square in the face by a foul ball. The only personal experience I could share was when Nora and I went during our two year anniversary, and it rained for five innings in a row. That, and we had seats that you’d need binoculars to actually see what was happening in the game. Nevertheless, it was fun as hell during those times. I just wished Piper and I could do something similar like that today, but baseball would never be the same ever again. Especially with the way people like Moe Cronin envisioned the sport to be like.

Then, I was struck with an idea. “Piper, you wanna do something later?”

“Something like what?” 

“You’ll see.” I had the most perfect plan of what we could do, and it required a clear night sky and some alone time.   
———  
Standing on the ledge of the wall, I looked down at the great drop. It would certainly be dangerous if one were to fall from it, so I kept myself a little away from it. Looking up, I could see the central area of Diamond City. All of it’s shops were closed for the night, with the exception of Takahashi’s power noodle stand, and Percy working the night shift at Myrna’s supply shop. Other than those two, a few security guards patrolled the streets. I wondered how they could stand being outside all day like that. They went with hardly any sleep at all, and nothing really exciting happened in Diamond City, especially at midnight. Not since last week.

Piper and I were coming back from a long walk all the way from Oberland Station, when we saw a man being held at gunpoint by another. The latter accused the former of being a synth, and he’d been in a standoff with Diamond City security for the past ten minutes. All of the residents and shop owners were gathered around, pleading with the guy to put down the gun, but he refused. He insisted that the other man, who was his brother, was a synth. But the brother who had the pistol pointed at him insisted that he wasn’t one. Kyle, the man with the gun, didn't even have the chance to regret his decision when one of the guards shot him in the back of the head. Nobody knows if the other man was a synth, because he fled town shortly after. Piper had a rough day after that. A couple of assholes had the nerve to blame her for it, saying that she was fear mongering in all of her articles about synths living among us.

I turned my attention from the bird’s eye view of the market to Piper, who was shaking in her boots. Her eyes were glazed with terror, and she was hyperventilating.  
   
“Piper? What’s wrong?”

“I… hate… heights,” she croaked. Of course, that’s why she was skeptical about coming up here. I brought the idea of scaffolding the walls of Diamond City and just sitting atop them as a little date for the night, and Piper originally shut down the idea. Instead, she proposed that we just go to Vadim’s and get a couple of beers, but that was too average in my opinion. And we’d already done that before, so I persuaded her to come with me so that we could do some stargazing in a place where nobody could bother us. I’d almost forgotten about the time that I’d taken her in a vertibird for a joyride to make up for recruiting for the Brotherhood, and she was in sheer terror the whole flight. 

I walked up to her and clasped her hand in mine. “Hey, it’s okay. Nothing’s gonna happen to you as long as I’m here.” Piper’s whole body still trembled, so I pulled her close so I could anchor her. Her nails dug into my back and she pressed her face so deep into my chest.

“Blue, don't let go.” 

“I won’t.” She was superglued to me, nothing could detach us. I caressed her back, soothing her to calm her. Slowly, I helped her bring her shallow breath back to a normal pace. Ten minutes later, I was able to coax her into sitting along the edge of the wall with me. Our hands were still linked together as she rested her head on my shoulder.

“This is actually… kinda nice.”

“Told you you’d like it.”

“Yeah… Nate?” Piper turned her head to me. 

“Hmm?” 

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Piper.”

I moistened my lips to brace for the contact. My heart raced as Piper kissed me, partly due to the fact that one wrong move and one of us could fall down and hit the ground below, impact that could shatter bones to a million pieces. But I stayed, because this was probably the one free moment that we would have that nobody could impede on. We stuck to kissing, however. Despite everyone else being asleep and us being far away from any distractions, there wasn't enough space for us to do much. I was fine with that, though.


End file.
